The Subway Disaster That Changed Firefighting
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ค. 2023
- The in-depth story of the King's Cross Station Fire 1987 - The Subway Disaster That Changed Firefighting.
The London Fire brigade receives a call to respond to one of London’s underground stations. The King’s Cross is on fire. Four engines are dispatched to the scene and arrive within minutes.
The blaze is at an escalator leading down to one of the station platforms. It’s only a small fire though, nothing a hose spray can’t handle. At least, that’s what they think.
Instead of a small fire, the London Tube is struck by the worst blaze in its history.
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That one firefighter trapped alone down there single handedly fighting the fire is beyond badass.
Yes
Defo
scrolled down to see if anyone commented on this. Doom Slayer vibes
As someone born in the 1990s I'm just here in shock that escalators were ever made of wood.
I think the first escalators were made from wood. Macy's - the big dept store in the middle of Manhattan - was famous for having them. Some of their escalators are still partially wood.
@@ae2948 It makes sense and sounds really obvious now, it's just something I'd never even conceived of before. I love learning new things
The escalators in this were made in 1938/9. It was a cheap and easy way to reduce the moving weight.
lmfao, next youll tell me youre shocked that airframes used to be wood too?
I remember them in Boston in the 1980s had them in older stations
A key aspect you didn’t mention was that firefighters in the UK were issued new uniforms which provided much better protection because the iconic rubber leggings they wore at the time of the fire were melting under the heat
I’m currently a firefighter in the UK and I honestly could never imagine wearing that kit into a small domestic fire, never mind a underground inferno! Those men paved the way for the gear we have today and that should never go unrecognised.
@@WAzzzUUppp My dad was in the UK police in the 1970's. He saw firefighters enter a domestic fire with wool coats and steel helmets but no respirators. They got a steel ladder and placed it in the hole where the stairs used to be whilst being sprayed with a hose. Then they climbed upstairs to get the kids out. Astonishing bravery. Tragically the children did not survive.
@@WAzzzUUppp on merseyside they called them yellow leggings plastic yellow fire retardent drip pants because they ware crap, each brigade had diffrent names for them eg leggings london over pants merseyside drip pants
It's my understanding that during World War II, the regular firefighters had leather gear. The auxiliary firefighters used gear that included rubber boots. It's surprising that decades later the regular firefighters would be using rubber and plastic.
Water steaming out of the wool coats when they got hot and then wet would probably cook you like a lobster
Fire in general can be scary but an underground fire sounds terrifying. Your video did this topic justice, thank you.
especially since heat rises, so fleeing the underground could be fatal
I mean, i remember hearing a story about a subway catching fire, and most the the people trying to flee by making to the next station
which was uphill
the only people who survived went *down*
@@tacticallemon7518 This sounds like you might be describing the Kaprun Funicular disaster. There are good TH-cam videos about it.
@@Vincent_Sullivaneven this channel has one on it that’s very good.
@@tacticallemon7518 IIRC at least most of the people in Kaprun didn't die of the heat, but of the smoke that was rising up to the direction they tried fleeing to
@@tacomies and smoke is hot, and heat rises
I said nothing about the cause of death, just that everyone who went uphill of the fire died
I use King's Cross station quite regularly. Whenever I do, I walk past the plaque commemorating this awful event. I simply can't imagine what it was like to be trapped down there on that dreadful evening. RIP all those who lost their lives.
Look up the Kaprun tram disaster in Austria or the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire in France and you can get an idea.
@MrWolfSnack they did Mont Blanc tunnel fire in France already and the Kaprun tram in Austria already. They did both awhile back
@@daniellewoolley8607 Read who I replied to and what he said.
@@daniellewoolley8607 Was Captain Obvious taken when you were looking for an alias?
Crraaazzzy wooooo crraaazzzy
Pre-1985: smoking permitted, heavily greased wooden escalators and constantly shifting air from trains in tunnels. It's amazing serious infernos, like the KC fire, weren't far more commonplace.
Interestingly a survey of the wooden escalators at King’s Cross suggested that there’d been a large amount of smaller and undetected fires on the track before this incident.
@eliz_scubavn that figures, during the post fire investigation, analysis of the very escalator that burned during the Kings Cross fire, found 17 other scorch marks in addition to the one that became the fatal blaze. What's more, they were all on the right hand side of the escalator, due to the etiquette of Tube travellers standing on the right
@@SiVlog1989I’d also mention the Bradford City fire. An old, poorly maintained stadium consisting of seats on wooden bleachers and a roof made with tar, smoking permitted in the stands and a years long buildup of debris including tickets, sweet wrappers and other items. All it took was one dropped cigarette and the whole thing set alight.
Within 3 minutes of the fire starting the entire stand was on fire and people across the other side of the stadium were forced to move due to heat. The fire moved so quickly that people were found burned in their seats and a number of people who’d tried to leave via exits had found them locked and they died unable to escape.
It's so terrifying that these escalators were made of wood at the time and with all the grease, trash and debris underneath that only helped fuel the fire.
Yeah... real terrifying. Bet your own shadow gives you great concern as well.
@@Look_What_I_DidI’ll bet that the 31 people who died in that fire and the 19 that received serious burns had “great concern.”
@@azul8811 I was there. High as F. Probably the best day of my life so far.
my main ire is from the lack of cleaning if there was grease, trash, and debris down there
@@JNJNRobin1337 The grease would presumably have been there for lubrication and couldn't have been avoided (non-flammable greases anyone?) but the rubblish that had fallen down over the years could have been. Weren't these escalators given maintenance where such debris could be cleared?
Finally, an episode where the disaster isn't a result of corporate greed
No, but from every end, there are means
@@Wizard__Jdamn fact
Maybe not corporate greed but unwillingness to invest to fix known issues for sure.
Maybe not corporate greed, but it is a warning of what happens when governments are unwilling to invest in infrastructure (the government led by Margaret Thatcher at the time, refused to provide much needed funds to not only improve the look of the stations on the Tube, but improve the safety of them as well, at least prior to the fire). Many tube stations in the 1980's had an unkempt look to them, with often just the bare tunnel lining visible and it wouldn't be until after she left office that the works to improve the look and safety of the stations (another major interchange station, actually 2 stations linked by escalator, Bank/Monument, was given a long overdue refurbishment at the time the Docklands Light Railway, DLR, arrived at Bank in 1991)
@@SiVlog1989 It's also a testament to why smoking bans should carry seriously high penalties. There is no legit reason why anyone should smoke in a zone where smoking is banned. People just do it because it's more convenient to ignore the smoking ban. This means, high fines (in the order of multiple monthly incomes) actually do stop people from smoking in non-smoking areas.
This smoker's convenience killed 31 people and injured 100 more. Just because they didn't have the patience to wait for another minute or so to light their cigarette.
Smoking still frequently starts fires and kills people, yet smoking in non-smoking areas is still without meaningful punishment in many countries.
I swear this must be the first time that this channel has covered a tragedy that was not caused by greed. I really like how that train driver stopped even though he had been instructed not to and helped so many people evacuate.
We also credit the firefighters who went out of their way to ensure that as many people could escape this hell.
I would say the smoker who couldn't wait to get out of the station before lighting up was greedy
@@alwaysdisputin9930 "Greed - intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.": The person lit and smoked a cigarette in an area where it wasn't allowed, therefore disobeying the rules, exposing others to the cigarette smoke AND *causing this tragedy* --> They acted _greedy_ by definition. lol
@@lucasmarsula7924 By that definition, people who get a massive boner are being greedy.
@@alwaysdisputin9930 The people who want food who don't have food are considered greedy by corporations.
@@genericscout5408 no, not at all. His comment literally says more than necessary or fair. Your comparison makes absolutely no sense and if anything is the exact opposite, the CORPORATIONS are greedy for hoarding the food or marking the prices up substantially.
the london underground: "if there's a fire deal with it yourself, don't call the fire dept"
also the london underground: "no we're not going to train you how to deal with fires"
it should not have taken a tragedy to realize how messed up their system was
Expecting platform bellhops and ticket punchers to deal with an axle grease petroleum fire of a wooden staircase with shitty little hand extinguishers - that would have never been possible. They did the right thing calling the fire brigade immediately. Anyone that denounces that action is a moron.
that just feels insane to me, since its drilled into people since they are kids that if you see a fire you call the fire department. Today its dial 911 (Or in the UK like where this incident happened its 999)
Comes down to money and uptime. You don't want to risk clearing out a station, causing delays, and messing up your documented on-time percentage unnecessarily if it's something that could've been handled more quickly and quietly in another manner. That's the thinking in a lot of industries/factories as well. Doesn't mean it's right, but that's the way it is.
Isn't that finding ridiculous! How many more deaths and highly injured people would there have been had the Fire Dept. not been called until AFTER Flashover had occured? Sometimes these after accident reports highlight such stupid things. It's like they don't realize that if they give a complete report, sometimes no humans have to be blamed. Sometimes an accident is just an accident.
@@RT-qd8ylMeanwhile, the famously on time Japanese shinkansen trains stop *immediately* anytime an earthquake is detected in the area
Firefighters are underrated, dealing with fires while risking life, lung cancer and such requires huge balls of steel
ok bot
I hate this bot
@@RCosta14 what bot
@@ganymededarlingI think they mean the commentor. Don’t know, never seen this person/bot.
I don’t think that’s true. Many people don’t like cops teachers even doctors. I never hear anyone that says “I can’t stand firefighters..”.
Yes I remember reading a magazine article about a woman whose brother was killed in the King's Cross fire and she talked about going down to where the morgue was at and when she first saw his body she thought there had been a mistake. Because the body was very dark brown but then she realize she was looking at the very badly burned body of her brother.
Yes fires tend to burn people
@@frakismaximus3052 and people are aware of that. More than likely she was just having a hard time accepting that was her love one laying there.
Flame-grilled.
@@5amH45lam How absolutely disrespectful.
...we prefer the term *char-broiled.* Thank you.
@@RT-qd8yl medium rare
The scary thing is when you are dealing with a below grade fire like this is that the staircase is like a chimney. All the heat and gases from the fire are pushing up those stairs… RIP to all of those who lost their lives.
If you find yourself in a similar situation stay below the fire. The fire spreads upwards due to the chimney effect. The smoke and all the toxic gases will rise up. There's enough oxygen to breathe and to sustain the fire because of the subway tunnels.
for a sceond i thought it's a plainly difficult collab.
Yea he did this one awhile ago
They all rip each other off
I think they were talking about the British accent 😀
@@frakismaximus3052I know. I often find myself so mad that disaster guys only have so many disasters to cover a year, that I’m like “come on. When will something new derail?”
If you cover real accidents, you are going to reach a point that nothing more than a day old will have gone uncovered. That isn’t ripping each other off. That’s listening to fans who want the creator’s own spin on it.
@@Cris-em9tn this ^ 😍
Rule of Thumb: If you see a fire, NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL, get out immediately!
No no you're supposed to take out your phone and film it
@@stellarobado4269 Yes, and then you will need to narrate it with YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thats crazy thats crazy yyooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo and film it vertically and shake the camera around.
@@stellarobado4269 😂🤣
I blame the first employee who when notified, went to look. He should have called the fire dept first. If it turned out there was no fire so what , they came for nothing. That hesitation of him no calling and releying on the constable who had to run upstairs and radio in allowed thr fore to spread. .if that employer survived he should be displined at rhe very least.
@@anthonygallo3576 I agree
Considering they were dealing with a situation they had never seen before, that hundreds didn't die is the true miracle.
IF that train driver hadn't stopped and let hundreds on to the train to escape....
IF that worker hadn't run to the surface and called the fire brigade immediately.....
IF that fireman hadn't grabbed a group of passengers and led them out....
IF......
The biggest "if" that we'll never know is how many people might have noticed the flame and/or smoke earlier and didn't say anything because they assumed someone else had already reported it. I know that I'm guilty of noticing something off and then just ignoring it, because surely I'm not the first person to have seen it and someone else will have reported it... fortunately, it every case, I've been right so far and someone else has reported it and/or it hasn't been something that was actually a problem, but what if someone even a few minutes earlier (maybe even a few seconds) had seen it and reported it, it might have made all the difference.
I have always operated on "I would rather be a repeat nusance than risk assuming someone else already did and being wrong"
A year ago a street lamp was laying across one of lanes of the street I was on. Apparently it was already reported, but I have 0 regrets about pulling over to call and make sure.
I will say, i owe alot of this behaviour to videos and stories like this over the years. I dont ever want to be involved in a dangerous/disaster situation where if I spoke up sooner it couldve been stopped or prevented.@@smileyeagle1021
You did an excellent job researching this video! I worked for 35 years with a company that makes fire equipment for firefighters. We got to know about fires, how they burn and how much they’re likely to consume. As you said, at this point in time, even the engineers who drew the plans for all the equipment were amazed by this blaze!
This fire was covered by others, so there wasn't a whole lot of research required, just shorter then the other video I watched some years ago.
@@marioxmariox Eh.. that’s not necessarily true/accurate. I’m not trying to argue with you, but… any good documentarian will research a subject on their own, completely independent and unbiased from any other TH-camr’s videos. Additionally, such in-depth research may uncover facts, footage, images that haven’t been used in other TH-cam videos yet or some events may have been updated with new information.
Anyways, using someone else’s video content/research is VERY taboo and could end up with multiple people repeating potentially false information as well… which nobody wants to be labeled as doing that. Viewers will rightfully call out such blatant plagiarism/false info too. In fact, some TH-camrs have started adding “micro-additions” to their content so they know whether another creator copied their video. I personally wouldn’t follow any channels that would do that kind of lazy plagiarism.
@@TitaniumTurbine I'd agree with marioxmariox, doesn't look like he researched it properly, just used someone elses' research.
As far as I remember, he doesn't explain in this video once how trains arriving impacted the fire, which was quite a big contributor to the trench effect and flashover happening so quick. It's details like that missing from these videos which just hint that they didn't research it, at the very least they didn't put much effort in to it.
Amazing Blaze
My dad lived in london at the time. He said that from then on after, if anyone caught so much as a hint of someone lighting up on the esculator EVERYONE would turn on them.
My dad was sub officer at the fire station where Colin Townsend was station officer only my father was on a different shift 😢
Yep, the most effective way to create meaningful change is getting regular people to care. If only it were easier and didn't require tragedy so much of the time!
@@lolomcspanky my dad worked his way up to station officer at Westminster Station. He is obviously retired now and he will be 81 tomorrow. St George's day. He was a firefighter for 27 years. He's got some horrific stories and fatalities to remember and also some amazing stories of saving many lives. Including his life being saved by his own fire crew
Underground fires are fucking terrifying
I don't think I'll ever forget about this one. Years ago I randomly turned on the tv and after a bit of channel surfing came across a Seconds From Disaster episode. It was about the King's Cross Fire. It has been sticking with me ever since.
Same here 😢
Wooden escalator. WHAT COULD GO WRONG IN A SOCIETY OF SMOKERS
Hopefully this fire was also used in a PSA about smoking.
“This is Kings Cross station after the fire of 1987. When we say *NO SMOKING*, we mean it, dammit! NO SMOKING!”
As a firefighter myself, I think the technical aspects in this video were top notch. Great job, you earned another subscriber today.
can one become a firefighter if they're small but fit? or should i really put on some muscle before even joining? thanks :)
@@mysteryY2K As long as you're physically fit, people of any size are welcome! The best thing to do is talk to whatever department you want to be part of, and find out what their physical requirements are. Most will actually have a test you'll take with things like dragging weights, running, carrying objects etc. Find out what you need to do in that test, and then practice doing it in your spare time while you prepare for your tests. As long as you know what to expect, you'll do fine. 🙂
I was 8 years old when this happened and remember seeing it on the news. It seemed like in the 80’s there were non stop disasters. Kings Cross, Hillsborough, Piper Alpha, Zeebrugge, Marchioness disaster etc.
I'm a bit older but yes I agree with you, it did seem like that.
@@sara-chan41 To a kid it definitely seemed that way. Plus Chernobyl too and the Hillsborough disaster.
It also changed escalator design, the wooden stairs helped the acceleration, like holding a burning match upside down. So many things came out of that, not just fire fighting practices.
If you look in Soho fire station, even today, the place where Colin Townsley’s gear was stored is still left empty in memory of the fallen hero
There are a number of interesting things to point out about the kit used by the firefighters, while by modern standards and the standards of the time they where starting to be come outdated thew uniforms worn by the firefighters still had a level of practicality. The rubber/plastic leggings where water resistant and woolen coats make for good thermal insulation and are even recommend to be worn if you're caught in a bushfire. And some fire brigades in Australia issued woolen coats as late as the early 2010s, albeit in a retired roll mostly as raincoats. As a product of the Kings Cross fire, fire brigades in the UK began using flame resistant nomex tunics instead of the woolen tunics, and replaced the old cork helmets with newer heat resistant plastic helmets with visors. The Kings Cross fire is too an extent a reasons as to why fire brigades in the UK modernised in the late 1980s and early 1990s
They look so dated here. I bet the woolen coat was so uncomfortable, looks very hot and I bet you were soaked in sweat and it's not even waterproof.
I remember this happened. I couldn't understand how a fire could outrun people in the ticket hall. It was scary to realise this was possible and still have to travel every day on the underground. I like to have control, but something like this is beyond your control.
Not being inside a concrete bunker that regularly fails fire code is entirely within my control.
@@cliffordcrimson7124 - The London Underground doesn't "regularly fails fire code" and has a fantastic safety record. Especially since this disaster. 1.5 BILLION passenger journeys take place each year on the London Underground. There are an average of only 2 accidental deaths each year and those are all people falling onto the tracks due to their own negligence.
I'm not sure what you are getting at but the King's Cross fire had half the number of deaths as the Las Vegas Shooting. There are plenty of tragic events in the USA and many are due to negligence. 114 people died when a walkway collapsed in the same time period in the USA.
If I misunderstood sorry but Americans have this need to put down other countries and it is very annoying. I used to like Americans and the US but now I cannot stand them because of this arrogant nasty attitude towards the rest of the world. You have made your own allies despise you.
Trains in the underground create a constant pump and vacuum effect with the air. An arriving train would push the air at speeds beyond what a human could move - hence the expedited spread of fire.
it's so sad to think a small match caused such a disaster
It was not a small match. It was a big douche.
Terrifying to think about it
A great deal of agony and destruction started not because of malice, but a banal disregard for the rules.
same with the Bradford City stadium fire! :(
It always does seem to be the smallest things that cause the biggest disasters.
If the tube trains didn't stop they wouldn't have saved 200+ people, I give full respect for the tube drivers
I couldn't imagine the guilt you'd feel if you were the one who lit the match that caused this
To think of the complex dynamics of these types of disasters are crazy. The way the fire effects the air pressure in the tubes. The wooden greasy escalators. The difference in elevation, the movement of the subway train's, etc. It's very complex.
Thank you, brave firefighters, for your unwavering courage and dedication. Your selfless actions and tireless efforts saved numerous lives and prevented further devastation. Your commitment to protecting and serving the community in the face of such a harrowing incident is truly commendable. We are forever grateful for your bravery and sacrifice. Your heroic actions remind us of the invaluable role firefighters play in our society, and we salute you for your extraordinary service.
These guys were back when firefighters were the real deal. The whole service is different now, at least where I worked. That's part of why I got out when I did.
man, as if they will even see this comment
good thing you weren't there though
I remember that this was also a huge step forward in computer simulations and models used to analyze events of this kind in the real world. It's fairly common now, but was not at the time.
I lived with my brother in Royal college street,about 300 yards from kings cross,neither of us heard or saw anything,totally oblivious to anything until a pal who had just escaped the initial fire came and told us.What we saw when we went to have a look was horrifying,a scene of absolute pandemonium. The look on the faces of the firemen,paramedics and policemen dealing with it telling you all you needed to know.
I was there. It was Hell. Used to laugh at the Piccadilly Line sign being off centre, but when I went back it was gone… silly thing but going back to Piccadilly always hurts that the sign isn’t there! Sleep well to those lost ❤️ London Underground staff and fire and police did their best. Thank you xxx
Oh and the ambulance staff, thankfully I didn’t need them xxx
I had the great honour to meet one of the firefighters. Bill Buddle, ex Para and a full on hero. Shoulders of King Kong and arms like Popeye. Brave as a bulldog and incredibly modest.
You gotta be a special kind of brave to be a firefighter..
Everyone runs out, you have to run in..
so many brave men that day.. from the police force as well..
Flashover is a critical point during a fire indoors, that usually happens when the fire sucks all of the air and ignites everything that is flammable around it, almost as if it is alive and trying to survive. SCARY.
I passed through Kings X tube station twice a day at that time and missed being caught up in this disaster by about 20 minutes. When the station reopened it was an eerie, weird place with a disturbing smell that hung around for a good few days more.
This is the best channel for objective (short) disaster documentary's in my mind. And the best voice over as well!
I'd just moved to London a few months before this disaster.
It surprises me to learn that smoking had already been banned on the tube - I thought that was one of the outcomes of the inquiry. Certainly it was commonplace enough that I assumed it was permitted, albeit not on the trains themselves.
I'd love if you could also do the MGM Grand fire. Especially since for a long time Nevada become one of the safest states in the United States for fire safety because they took the lessons from that fire to heart, but in recent years, it seems the state has decided that they no longer really care about fire safety that much and are setting themselves up to have another fire disaster in the future (potentially an underground fire... I'm looking at you Las Vegas Loop).
I grew up in a post MGM Grand fire Nevada and I remember when I moved away to college so many of the people on my dorm floor thought I was crazy, because I was the guy who on move in day made a point of counting doors to the fire exit, telling people that I did that whenever I checked into a hotel, that I always kept my wallet and keys in my pants pockets, next to my bed, when I slept, that my dirty pants didn't go into the hamper until the next day when I changed into clean pants, that I had a bunch of habits revolving around making sure I was prepared to evacuate in case of a fire. Oh crazy Mike, so paranoid... that was until near the end of my Freshman year when there was a small fire in the dorm building and we had to evacuate at 3am and I was able to throw my previous day's pants on over my pajamas, there was no smoke on our floor so counting doors wasn't needed, but I was ready for it if I did need it, and I was out of the building quickly, safely, and calmly, almost completely unphased while everyone else was losing their minds. Thankfully no one was hurt, also no one made fun of how crazy I was after that either.
13 years later the Kaprun cable train disaster in Austria caused much more casualties with a similar trench effect. Lessons learned from disasters are often too soon forgotten.
and then after that it happened again with the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire.
Yes, if I recall, those that ran towards and then past the flames survived while those who went up the funicular tunnel perished. I think the reason anyone thought to run towards the flames was because a firefighter was there on a ski vacation
@@esteemedmortal5917 that's exactly why. He led them down.
reminds me of the poor Charleston SC firefighters at the super sofa store..🙏🏿
Wasnt that the one where the roof collapsed?
@@Fred_the_1996it was
There were a whole lot of things that went wrong on that one. There is a pdf file out there that details it all. The Phase II Report of the Charleston Super Sofa Fire, by J. Gordon Routley and others. Some significant changes were made in the Charleston Fire Department after this, such as having 4 man engine companies, and making the upgrade from 2.5" hose to 5" LDH for water supply.
Don't remind me of that I washed that
this fire taught us so much about fire within a confined area. it's too sad that so many people died in the process.
One of the transit police who was in the ticket hall when the flash over occur said woman run past him with her eyeglasses melted to her face.
I was coming back from weekends leave and traveled though this station about 20 mins before this started. i didn't know anything about it till I heard the news the next morning when I sat watching the news. This was a narrow escape for me. And a shock for the guys I worked with as we were all fire fighters
I had missed the fire also, as I was heading out to Rickmansworth from Kings Cross to visit family etc. Totally saddened by what happened.
I was 9 when this happened, followed it on the news with my parents. RIP to those who died
Those firefighters went through literal Hell. And some still relive it. That sort of moment and incident you don't forget in a hurry.
Slight correction / additional information.
The effect of gases going up the trench was partially caused by trains arriving. When they arrived, it pushed air out and up, including up the escalators. That's what caused the trench effect to occur so quickly.
That theory was discredited in the investigation.
This disaster can be laid at the feet of government and london transport. For so many years the tube system was and is starved of money for upgrades, It was well known that the wooden escalators installed in 1938+9 were a problem, their replacement was due in the late 1960's or early 1970's.
Note, the missing escalator was used in a government war factory and is still there.
The trench effect was well known amongst metal workers and was used to superheat air into furnaces from the iron age and probably before but was generally believed to be impossible in civilian settings.
A major issue which helped cause this was whenever the station was repainted the layers of old paint were never removed leaving a thick oily layer of oil based paint which gave off toxic and flammable fumes when superheated,
All in all a very avoidable fire.
I remember hating those old wooden escalators from when I was a little kid in 1990 or so, because the steps were a slightly larger than on the newer metal ones (which was a big deal to a 3-4 year old kid). My old man would sometimes take me to work with him for some babysitting on the go and we'd pass through Warren Street, only a couple of stops from this. It was a good few years before the wooden escalators were completely phased out.
… and to think smoking was allowed on airplanes until the late 1980’s. Shudder! Rules are good… but if they aren’t enforced…… RIP those unfortunate souls! Thanks for analyzing this tragedy, well done!
I remember flying from the UK to Italy in 1994 and smoking was still allowed at the rear of the plane. I recall hating it, because my father smoked so as a family we had to sit among all the chain smokers.
it's so weird travelling through kingscross everyday knowing now what happened. rest in peace to all the victims of this tragedy
Even today subways are basically like a fireplace underground with stairwells and escalators as chimneys. The fact that most of the building materials are somewhat nonflammable nowadays is important.
You should also do the video about the Daegu subway fire in South Korea. That was an equally devastating subway fire that also led to sweeping changes.
I remember watching this on Forensic Files. That episode was the first episode that I watched. And I was hooked on show because of the King's Crossing in 1987.
ive been there so many times, for some reason it always feels a little more chilling when i know some of these disasters are relatively close to me
Superb documentary, well prepared and executed.... A tragedy indeed, but it is important to learn facts and consequences
Very good explanation. I worked for London Underground from 1999 to 2007, and by then the organisation had completely transformed in the way staff were trained and incidents were dealt with. King's Cross really did change everything.
Thank you foo your services
It’s because of the King’s Cross fire that escalators can’t be made with wooden steps anymore. There is still one wooden escalator operating at another Tube station, but the rest of them all have metal steps
So amazing how they can figure out how these things escalate.
Hope having a good one! thanks for the endless great content
Amazing how accurate the technology was then with the simulations.
I was born and bred just round the corner. Used to go on the tube with my mum, down the wooden escalators and it was totally normal to smoke down there. I remember the constant sirens when this happened, flying past our house.
Very interesting! Thanks for making this.
I must say, for all of Thatcher's flaws... she clearly responded to this disaster very effectively.
I enjoy this dudes voice. It helps me concentrate on the information. I wish he did more history ❤ no worries love what this channel does now
I love your videos so much information on history
I remember this happening. Utterly tragic.
very well done. I'd heard of this fire before, but didn't know much about it, just that it was a very serious blaze and the reason why escalators are made of all metal nowadays. thank you for a most interesting explanation of what happened and why.
I'm a Chemist by trade, but I also studied Fire Science a little in college and we covered this story and the trench effect.
A very interesting recounting of the King's Cross Station Fire. Thank you for sharing this factual information with the You Tube viewers.
Wooden escalators, grease and rubbish underneath, an enclosed space and a selfish smoker, the perfect elements for this disaster to take place, not good. May all those poor people killed Rest in Peace.
Imagine being someone who threw a match to the side of the escalator, then learn of this fire and think "did I do that?"
Did that person sleep well that night?
Same thing I wonder
Thank you! I support you!
I remember my surprise at the time to learn of such a thing as a wooden escalator. No one else I spoke with had ever heard of one, either.
I remember them from the 1960's
Every escalator was wooden before the 60s, wood is a common building material right
I remember travelling on these very escalators, and my mother got her cardigan caught on a splinter, unravelling the wool.
Some smart thinking and heroic actions saved a lot of people. Could have been such a higher fatality count. Bless the souls of those 31. We owe them a debt of thanks because of improvements made. 😞
As an engineering condulton I have noted that fire departments are notorious for not studying thermodynamics or fluid mechanics. [ I have earned 3 engineering degrees and performed my graduate work at Stanford University. I have a tremendous amount of post-graduate education and training and retired from a national laboratory.] The so-called trench effect was neither new or misunderstood. The problem is that we are unable to get the fire departments/ Authorities to study how our results. I perform a significant amount of research attempting to improve national and International fire codes. Politics, ignorance, and greed greatly impacted the results. We have recommended sprinkler systems for subways back in 1980 but many still do not have them! We also recommended numerous changes and additions to control systems for fire detection and suppression, movement of people, control of the Subway cars, et cetera. We also had great concerns regarding maintenance of Subway systems in general. Sadly most cities have failed to comply with our safety recommendations. Subways freeways waterways, et cetera, suffer from poor/unsafe construction and maintenance. The infrastructure in the United States is particularly at risk.
Wow, that’s scary and disappointing.
There's also another similar accident in the Alps I forget which country but I want to say Austria where the tunnel acted like a chimney and the train caught fire due to an electric heater shorting out. It was brutal.
Yup The Kaprun fire in Austria.
@@Lycan_Jedi yes. Thanks i couldn't remember the name of it.
I remember when this happened a firefighter who responded said he doesn’t take the subway after this fire
Somewhere out there, the person who threw that match has been secretly living with this guilt hanging over them for all these years.
Charles Duhigg had a chapter about this incident in The Power Of Habit. I can only imagine how horrifying it must have been to be involved, whether as a victim, a firefighter, or a witness...
At the station I work at, we have sprinklers in the pit and escalators, constantly checked. I feel for all those souls lost.
So that's where that comes from! This info also led to what we now call the Fire Tetrahedron from the triangle.
In the early 70s, there was an arson attack on a gay bar called the UpStairs Lounge. The entrance to the bar was an enclosed stairway and the fire was started at the bottom. When the door at the top of the stairs was opened, a jet of flame burst into the bar. The fire ended up killing over 30 people. It was the same trench effect, I didn't know it had a name. It's a shame that fire was never studied.
Sadly, it isn't surprising that it wasn't studied... after all, it was the 70s and the only people injured and killed were people that no one at the time cared about anyway. Of course, had they studied it, it might have prevented the tragedy at King's Cross, so hey, what do you know, homophobia and bigotry ended up hurting more than just gay people in the end, who could have seen that coming.
While implied by the name, one thing not mentioned here with the trench effect was the role of the metal balustrades of the escalator. They served to reflect the heat of the fire and confine the free radicals to the escalator rather than letting it disperse as with an open fire, hence providing a positive feedback loop, amplifying and accelerating the effect until it reached flashover. It is truly an astonishing and scary combination of fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, and was one of the first phenomena that heavily used computer simulations to understand.
This is why when a fire alarm goes off in a public building, you ought to leave. There are sensors in areas that you cannot see and it can save your life. Fires can turn into this.
Uk stations u hear on pa, inspector sands and alarm going off I always make sure I get out,
Inspector sands go to piccadily line platform 3, ie staff involved in emergency, fire procedure go to that location
And beforee this in 1984 you had the fire at the Oxford Circus station as well, which would make a good companion episode to this, or the early 1900s Paris metro fire
My deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who died at King's Cross 😢💔🇨🇦
Fireman uniforms used to look so much better than today...
Because it will just seem that Fireman Sam had to deal with this
I was on the first responder team. It was hellish.
Stopping the escalator actually made it worse. It kept the fire stationary, instead of not letting it do that with the movement of the escalator.
@mrkipling2201 you misunderstand what was going on. The seat of the fire was in the machinery under the escalator. Leaving the escalator running would have ensure the whole escalator would heat up and catch far much more quickly, not least because the fire would be moving faster towards the extra oxygen coming from the street entrances. Also when the burning steps reached the top they would go underneath the escalator and travel back down further concentrating the heat.
Thank you heros
There were a few things that always made me shake my head in disbelief about this incident. One, the fact that the escalators had not been cleaned up in YEARS, thus allowing a massive amount of detritus to accumulate and become a potential fire hazard. Two, the fact that the firefighters did not do anything to put out the fire when it was first reported- and quite small. You should NEVER ignore a fire like that, no matter how commonplace it might have been. Three, that there wasn’t a more concerted effort to stop people from blatantly ignoring the no smoking policy. So many complacencies contributed to this travesty. Fortunately, many lessons were learned including the discovery of the trench effect- a major breakthrough for firefighters when dealing with fires like this.
Routine and genius ignorance always kills.
We never had to clean it and it was fine so far...
Well just because it has worked so far, it's not a guarantee that it will work so forever
Yeah... I fail to understand why there wasn't an instruction to stop all the escalators that lead toward the problem area ASAP, no matter how small the fire was and for police officers to immediately stop all the passengers from entering anywhere near the problem area. They just allowed people to go on for so long.
Standung around the fire, watching it and having a chitchat? Dang it, it is a fire in a subway station, not a neighborhood barbeque!
You are about 35 years late with your recommendations
@@suburbia2050 recommendations never should have been necessary, it’s called common sense. Something these folks clearly lacked.
There is never a mention of the fact that LUL keep trains running whilst the fire was in it`s early stages. The trains running through the station, pushed air up the escalator helping to accelerate the trench effect and the flashover. Nowadays, if there is a fire at a tube station, all trains stop. In theory, that fire was like firefighters having to come down a chimney to fight a fire in the fireplace with someone using bellows at the bottom. If station staff had used a water fire extinguisher instead of CO2, the outcome could have been very different.
I knew one of the Firefighters in that video sitting down, Danny with the moustache. He changed a lot after the fire and left LFB a short time after. During the 80`s it was common practice for LFB not to wear BA sets at some fires and that changed after the deaths at Kings Cross. Also Euston is the nearest Fire Station to Kings Cross but was not on the initial attendance.
The trains only stop if they are in a station. There is no way they are going to stop trains in the tunnels, as if smoke entered the tunnels the passengers would die.
I was working in the City of London when this happened and knew several people that were involved. Luckily all got out but the experience stayed with them.
Why did you change your channel name? Love the content, just curious of the switch up
I remember watching a documentary on this where they did extensive testing trying to figure out what the hell went wrong
This is one of the reasons why smoking got banned in buildings, Too unsafe.