The King's Cross fire was a devastating underground fire in London on November 18, 1987, which killed 31 people. It burnt out the top level (entrances and ticket halls) of King's Cross St. Pancras London Underground station, a huge interchange station which has platforms on the Victoria, Piccadilly, Northern, Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines. Jump to: navigation, search A large bonfire Fire is a form of combustion. ... Jump to: navigation, search The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Jump to: navigation, search November 18 is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years), with 43 remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Unique tile work on Kings Cross St Panras stations Victoria Line platforms features a series of Kings crowns in a cross Kings Cross St. ... Slight modifications to the famous London Underground roundel indicate the name of each station on platform and some outdoor signs. ... A railway platform is a section of pathway, alongside rail tracks at a train station, metro station or tram stop, at which passengers may board or alight from trains or trams. ... The Victoria Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured light blue on the Tube map. ... The Piccadilly Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. ... The Northern Line is a deep-level tube line of the London Underground, coloured black on the Tube map. ... The Circle Line of the London Underground became known as such in 1949, when it was separated from its parent lines, the Metropolitan Line and the District Line, although it had been shown on Underground maps since 1947. ... 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 Metropolitan Line is part of the London Underground. ...

The fire was caused by rubbish and grease beneath wooden escalators being ignited, probably by a discarded match. Although smoking was banned on the London Underground in February 1985 (a consequence of the Oxford Circus fire), smokers often lit up on their way out of the system. The fire started under the escalator, spread above it, then flashed over and filled the ticket hall with flames and smoke. The subsequent forensic investigation found charred wood beneath the adjacent up escalator, which indicated that a number of fires had started previously due to the same cause but had not taken hold; instead they extinguished of their own accord. Jump to: navigation, search Escalators at Westminster tube station, London An escalator is a conveyor transport device to transport people, consisting of a staircase whose steps move up or down on tracks which keep the surfaces of the individual steps horizontal. ... A flashover is the simultaneous ignition of all combustible material in an enclosed area. ...

The large number of casualties in the fire was an indirect consequence of a combustion phenomenon known as the trench effect. 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 protruded above the balustrade and were visible to observers. 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. Combustion or burning is an exothermic reaction between a substance (the fuel) and a gas (the oxidizer), usually O2, to release heat. ... 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 a large enough number of steps had been heated, a flashover occurred 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 nature of the smoke changed from clean and thin to black and oily. The 31 casualties were those unable to escape from the ticket hall before succumbing to the effects of the latter type of smoke and the intense heat. A flashover is the simultaneous ignition of all combustible material in an enclosed area. ...

The Fennell Investigation into the fire 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 1971 Fire Precautions Act). These led to: the replacement of all wooden escalators on the Underground, which was finally completed in 2004; the mandatory installation of automatic sprinklers and heat detectors in escalators; mandatory fire safety training for all station staff twice a year; and improvements in emergency services liaison. Jump to: navigation, search 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

One of the 31 victims of the fire remained unidentified until January 2004, when forensic evidence proved that he was 72-year-old Alexander Fallon of Falkirk, Scotland. The previously unidentified victim was immortalized in a 1990 Nick Lowe song, "Who Was That Man?" 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → January 31, 2004 The United States defence budget is set to exceed US$400 billion next year—an almost 7% increase—according to budget proposals inadvertently posted on the Pentagons website. ... Falkirks location in Scotland Falkirk (An Eaglais Bhreac in Scottish Gaelic) is a town in Scotland, in the district of Falkirk. ... Cover of The Convincer (2001) Nick Lowe (born March 24, 1949) is a rock and roll singer-songwriter and producer. ...

See also

• King's Cross St. Pancras tube station
• King's Cross railway station

Unique tile work on Kings Cross St Panras stations Victoria Line platforms features a series of Kings crowns in a cross Kings Cross St. ... This GNER train serving Kings Cross is named White Rose after the traditional symbol of Yorkshire. ...

References

• D. Fennell, Investigation into the King's Cross Underground Fire. The Stationery Office Books; ISBN 0101049927
• 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 0118863940
• 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 I Mech E seminar, The King's Cross Underground Fire: fire dynamics and the organisation of safety 1 June 1989; ISBN 0852987056
• A.F. Roberts, The King's Cross Fire: a correlation of the eyewitness accounts and results of the scientific investigation Paper presented at I Mech E seminar,The King's Cross Underground Fire: fire dynamics and the organisation of safety 1 June 1989; ISBN 0852987056

Jump to: navigation, search June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Summary of the emergency services response
• Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989
• Last Kings Cross victim identified