The King's Cross fire was a fatal underground fire in London which broke out at approximately 19:30 on 18 November 1987, and which killed 31 people. For other uses, see Fire (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ...

It took place at King's Cross St. Pancras station, a huge interchange on the London Underground. The station consisted of two parts, a subsurface station on the Circle and Metropolitan Lines (today's Hammersmith & City Line was then part of the Metropolitan) and a deep-level tube station on the Northern, Piccadilly, and Victoria Lines. The fire started in an escalator shaft serving the Piccadilly Line, which was burnt out along with the top level (entrances and ticket hall) of the deep-level tube station. Kings Cross St Pancras tube station is the London Underground station serving both Kings Cross and St Pancras main line stations in the London Borough of Camden. ... The London Underground is an underground railway system - also known as a rapid transit system - that serves a large part of Greater London, United Kingdom and some neighbouring areas. ... For other uses, see Circle Line (disambiguation). ... London Transport Portal The Metropolitan Line is part of the London Underground, coloured maroon on the Tube map. ... The Hammersmith and City Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured salmon pink on the Tube map, running between Hammersmith and Aldgate East, extending to Barking in the rush hours. ... The London Underground is an underground railway system - also known as a rapid transit system - that serves a large part of Greater London, United Kingdom and some neighbouring areas. ... For other uses, see Northern Line (disambiguation). ... London Transport Portal The Piccadilly Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured blue on the Tube map. ... London Transport Portal The Victoria Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured light blue on the Tube map. ... Escalators at Canary Wharf, London. ...

Emergency services at King's Cross

Image File history File links King's_Cross_Fire. ... Image File history File links King's_Cross_Fire. ... Kings Cross St Pancras tube station is the London Underground station serving both Kings Cross and St Pancras main line stations in the London Borough of Camden. ...

Cause

The stairs and sides of the escalator, where the catastrophe started, were made of wood. The fire was most probably caused by a lighted match which was discarded on the escalator and fell down the side of the escalator onto the return track. The track had not been properly cleaned for some time and was heavily contaminated by rubbish and grease, which caught fire. Although smoking was banned on the subsurface sections of the London Underground in February 1985 (a consequence of the Oxford Circus fire), smokers often lit up on their way out of the system. For other uses, see Fire (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Match (disambiguation). ... Escalators at Canary Wharf, London. ... No Smoking sign. ...

Other possible causes such as arson and an IRA bomb were quickly rejected as possible causes of the fire, mainly because of the strong evidence pointing to discarded smokers' materials. The Skyline Parkway Motel in Afton, Virginia after an arson fire on July 9, 2004. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann) (IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the Army or the RA.[2]) is an Irish Republican, left wing[3] paramilitary organisation that, until the Belfast Agreement, sought to end Northern...

How the fire spread

The fire started beneath the escalator, spread above it, then flashed over and filled the ticket hall with flames and smoke. Investigations later showed that a particular combination of draughts and winds, caused by the trains moving in and out of the station that day, added to the speed of the fire spreading. Witnesses described a firestorm moving into the ticket hall, created by a chimney effect on the angled escalator and helped by the wind rushing in from below. Forensic investigation found charred wood in 18 places beneath the up escalator, which showed that fires had started before by the same cause but had run out of fuel without spreading. All these small fires were on the right hand (standing) side, which is where standing passengers are most likely to light a cigarette: passengers stand on the right to let walking passengers pass on the left. A flashover is the near simultaneous ignition of all combustible material in an enclosed area. ... Flame generated by the burning of a candle. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The word forensic (from Latin: forensis - forum) refers to something of, pertaining to, or used in a court of law. ...

The lack of visible flames and relatively clean woodsmoke produced lulled the emergency services into a false sense of security. Many people in the ticket hall believed that the fire was small and thus not an immediate hazard: indeed, an evacuation route from the tunnels below was arranged through a parallel escalator tunnel to the ticket hall above the burning escalator. Some argue that the evacuation of the station below the fire was unnecessary as "fires rarely burn downwards", citing that there was no fire damage below the starting point of the fire. Fires certainly can burn downwards; flame radiation can heat fuels in any direction including below the fire; falling embers and other combusting products and flammable liquids can spread fire downwards. Another consideration is ventilation; just because a fire is above does not mean that smoke and other products of incomplete combustion, including carbon monoxide, will not spread downwards. Alterations to normal ventilation flows are particularly common in underground environments, including subway systems. Emergency services are public services that deal with emergencies and other aspects of Public Safety. ... Radiation as used in physics, is energy in the form of waves or moving subatomic particles. ... Generally, a flammable liquid means a liquid which may catch fire easily. ... Ventilation good and very bad Ventilation is air circulation of air, typically between a room, a tunnel, etc. ... This article is about the chemical reaction combustion. ... Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. ...

The large number of casualties in the fire was an indirect consequence of a combustion phenomenon known as the trench effect, though this phenomenon was completely unknown prior to the fire. This effect meant that in the early stages of the fire the flames lay down in the escalator rather than burning vertically, so that they heated the steps higher up. In these early stages of the fire, the flames visible to anyone not standing on the burning escalator were a small part of the full story. The majority of the flames were lying down in the escalator trench; only a few flames protruded above the balustrade and were visible to observers. This article is about the chemical reaction combustion. ... The trench effect is a combination of two well-understood but separate ideas: the Coanda effect from fluid dynamics and the flashover concept from fire dynamics. ...

However, once enough treads had been heated, a flashover happened on the escalator. When the treads of the escalator flashed over, the size of the fire increased exponentially and a sustained jet of flame was discharged from the escalator tunnel into the ticket hall, setting combustibles in the hall alight. The arrangement of underground hall and escalators functioned all too effectively as an incinerator due to heat driven convection added to the usual ventilation system, with temperatures reaching 600 °C: a BBC television news report called Kings Cross underground station "an efficient furnace". This article needs cleanup. ... BBC News is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporations news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ...

The fire was exacerbated by a solvent-based paint used on the ceiling above the escalator, which ignited during the flashover, causing the composition of the smoke to change from light and thin to black and oily. For other uses, see Solvent (disambiguation). ...

Emergency response

The London Fire Brigade initially despatched four fire appliances and a turntable ladder, with units from A24 Soho Fire Station being the first on the scene at 19:42, followed shortly by colleagues from C27 Clerkenwell, A22 Manchester Square and A23 Euston. More than 30 fire crews - over 150 firefighters, 30 of them Emergency Response Jinky units - were eventually deployed to combat the incident. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the statutory fire and rescue service for London, England. ... A turntable ladder is the ladder on top of a fire engine wich is used by the fire brigade to rescue people from houses or to estinguish fire. ... Cast-iron architecture in Greene Street SoHo is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. ... Clerkenwell Green and St James church Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. ... Manchester Square in the 1790s. ... Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London. ...

A total of 14 ambulances from the London Ambulance Service fleet ferried the injured to local hospitals including University College Hospital. The London Ambulance Service (LAS) is the largest ambulance service in the world that does not directly charge its patients for its services. ... University College Hospital is a teaching hospital in London, part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and associated with University College London. ...

The fire was officially declared extinguished at 01:46 the following day (19 November), although emergency crews remained at the scene until 18:20.

Victims

In total, 31 people died and more than 60 received injuries ranging from severe burns to smoke inhalation. The fatalities were among those unable to escape from the ticket hall before succumbing to the effects of the latter stages of thick smoke and the intense heat. Their names are listed here:

Aftermath inside King's Cross St. Pancras London Underground station

London Fire Brigade Station Officer Colin Townsley from A24 Soho was in charge of the first fire engine to arrive at the scene and was down in the station concourse at the time of the flashover. As he was making his exit, Townsley spotted a lady who was in trouble and stopped to help her. He was not wearing breathing apparatus and was overcome by the smoke. Although he was later found in the inferno by his colleagues, efforts to revive him had little effect, and he was rushed to hospital, where he later died due to smoke inhalation. Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the statutory fire and rescue service for London, England. ... A rank in the New Zealand Fire Service and also in fire departments in the United Kingdom, a Station Officer is a fire fighter officer with responsibility for a number of junior fire fighters. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Kings Cross St Pancras tube station is the London Underground station serving both Kings Cross and St Pancras main line stations in the London Borough of Camden. ... The London Underground is an underground railway system - also known as a rapid transit system - that serves a large part of Greater London, United Kingdom and some neighbouring areas. ... Fire Engine in South Bend, Indiana. ...

The case of the initially "unidentified man", commonly known as "Body 115" after its mortuary tag number, was finally solved on 22 January 2004, when forensic evidence proved that he was 72-year-old Alexander Fallon of Falkirk, Scotland. The previously unidentified victim was immortalised in a 1990 Nick Lowe song, Who Was That Man? is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Falkirk (An Eaglais Bhreac, the Variagated [or Speckled] Church [presumably referring to a church building built of many-coloured stones]) in Scottish Gaelic, La Chapelle de Fayerie in French) is a town in central Scotland lying to the north west and north east of the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow... Bowi EP sleeve (1977). ...

Aftermath

As a result of the disaster, smoking was totally banned in all London Underground stations, including the escalators.

Six firemen received Certificates of Commendation for their actions at the fire, including Station Officer Townsley who was given the award posthumously. A posthumous recognition is a ceremonial award given after the recipient has passed away. ...

A service of remembrance for the victims was held at St. Pancras Church and a memorial plaque was unveiled by HRH The Princess of Wales, with another erected at Kings Cross Station. A commemoration service was also held on 18 November 1997, the tenth anniversary of the blaze, in memory of those who died. St Pancras New Church soon after completion. ... A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal attached to a wall or other vertical surface and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event. ... HRH is an abbreviation for the style His Royal Highness or Her Royal Highness. ... Princess Diana redirects here. ...

The Fennell Report

A public inquiry into the incident was conducted by Mr. Desmond Fennell, QC, assisted by a panel of four expert advisers. The inquiry opened at Central Hall, Westminster on 1 February 1988 and closed on 24 June, after hearing 91 days of evidence. For information about The Times satire Queens Counsel, see Queens Counsel (comic strip). ... Westminster is a district within the City of Westminster in London. ...

The Fennell investigation's findings prompted the introduction of the Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989 (usually referred to as the Section 12 Regulations because they were introduced under section 12 of the Fire Precautions Act 1971). These led to: the replacement of all wooden escalators in sub-surface Underground stations with metal ones; the mandatory installation of automatic sprinklers and heat detectors in escalators; mandatory yearly fire safety training for all station staff; and improvements in emergency services liaison. It also led to stringent restrictions on the types of paint permitted for use on the Underground. Fire sprinklers are an active fire protection measure subject to stringent bounding. ... Electro-pneumatic heat detector, rate of rise and fixed temperature operation. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Repairs to the station

Memorial plaque to the 1987 fire in the station

The ticket hall and platforms for the subsurface lines were undamaged and reopened the morning after the fire; the Victoria Line, its escalators only slightly damaged, resumed normal operation on the following Tuesday. The ticket hall for the three deep tube lines was reopened in stages over a period of four weeks. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ...

The three escalators for the Piccadilly Line had to be completely replaced. The new ones were commissioned on 27 February 1989, more than 16 months after the fire. Until that time, the only access to the Piccadilly Line was indirect, either via the Victoria Line station or via what is now called King's Cross Thameslink, and sometimes at peak hours was possible in one direction only. is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Kings Cross Thameslink station is a railway station in central London, which serves the Thameslink franchise. ...

Access to the Northern Line platforms was already indirect, its escalators connecting only to the Piccadilly Line. As the traffic from all three deep tube lines would have overcrowded the Victoria Line escalators, Northern Line service to the station was completely suspended, the trains running through without stopping, until repairs were complete. The opportunity was taken to replace the nearly life-expired Northern Line escalators as well, which took a few days longer; the Northern Line station reopened, completing the return of King's Cross St. Pancras to normal operation, on 5 March 1989. This article is about the day. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ...

See also

• King's Cross St. Pancras tube station
• King's Cross railway station
• London Fire Brigade
• Oxford Circus fire
• Trench effect
• Sir Neil Shields

Kings Cross St Pancras tube station is the London Underground station serving both Kings Cross and St Pancras main line stations in the London Borough of Camden. ... Kings Cross station (often spelt Kings Cross on platform signs) is a railway station in the district of the same name in northeast central London. ... The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the statutory fire and rescue service for London, England. ... The trench effect is a combination of two well-understood but separate ideas: the Coanda effect from fluid dynamics and the flashover concept from fire dynamics. ... Sir Neil Stanley Shields OBE MC (September 7, 1919 – September 12, 2002) was most notable as a merger broker in the United Kingdom, helping to facilitate mergers and acquisitions as a director of Chesham Amalgamations[1], and as the Chairman of the Commission for New Towns from 1982 to 1995...

References

• D. Fennell, Investigation into the King's Cross Underground Fire. The Stationery Office Books; ISBN 0-10-104992-7 (6.8 MB pdf)
• K. Moodie, The King's Cross Fire: Damage Assessment and Overview of the Technical Investigation Fire Safety Journal, vol 18 (1992) 13-33
• S. Simcox, N.S. Wilkes & I.P. Jones, Computer Simulation of the Flows of Hot Gases from the Fire at King's Cross Underground Station Fire Safety Journal, vol 18 (1992) 49-73
• K. Moodie & S.F. Jagger, Results and analysis from the scale model tests Paper presented at IMechE seminar, The King's Cross Underground Fire: fire dynamics and the organisation of safety 1 June 1989; ISBN 0-85298-705-6
• A.F. Roberts, The King's Cross Fire: a correlation of the eyewitness accounts and results of the scientific investigation Paper presented at IMechE seminar,The King's Cross Underground Fire: fire dynamics and the organisation of safety 1 June 1989; ISBN 0-85298-705-6
• P. Chambers, Body 115: The Story of the Last Victim of the King's Cross Fire. John Wiley & Sons, 2006; ISBN 0-470-01808-9
• B. Appleton Report of an inquiry into health and safety aspects of stoppages caused by fire and bomb alerts on London Underground, British Rail and other mass transit systems. HSE Books 1992; ISBN 0-11-886394-0
• Vaughan, Adrian (2000). Tracks to Disaster. Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-2731-5. 
• Desmond F. Croome and Alan A. Jackson, Rails Through the Clay, 2nd edition, 1993, Capital Transport Publishing, ISBN 1-85414-151-1.
• BBC News Online Solved after 16 years - the mystery of victim 115

Logo The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is the British engineering society concerned with mechanical engineering. ... is the 152nd day of the year (153rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Logo The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is the British engineering society concerned with mechanical engineering. ... is the 152nd day of the year (153rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... BBC News website in June 2007. ...

External links

• Summary of the emergency services response
• Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989
• Fire tactics: King's Cross fire
• BBC News 'On This Day' report
• ITN News at Ten coverage of the incident
• ASLEF union website on Section 12 regulations
• Fire Brigade operations - London Fire Journal