Kings Cross Tube Station

[Garno]

Hard to believe it is over 33 years when the disaster happened.
I was in the Army at the time yet recall the disaster as though it happened last week.
RIP the unfortunate souls.
I always thought (until now) it was caused by a discarded cigarette butt.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Scary @Garno . I remember the pictures on TV and I always think of it when I see the plaque when going through the station. It must have been horrendous.

 

[marcros]

I always thought that it was a cigarette butt until now too.

 

[Just4Fun]

Hard to believe it is over 33 years when the disaster happened.
I was in the Army at the time yet recall the disaster as though it happened last week.

I was living & working in London at the time and used the tube to commute. I had a choice of 2 obvious routes, which I used on a 50-50 basis. One of the routes went through Kings Cross and the other didn't. On the day of the disaster I happened to go home on the route that did not go via Kings Cross. This was at about the same time as the fire. I remember the shock when I learned what had happened. In reality, even if I had taken the Kings Cross option my route would not have taken me near the fire, but I still felt lucky about choosing the other route that day.

 

[rafezetter]

I used to be a Guardian Angel 89-92 and our home base was in Kings Cross, so every year on the 18th Nov we used to gather just before our patrol and do a minutes silence - I remember the day as it was a week before remembrance sunday.

It's strange about the cigarette butt "myth", I thought the same as I thought that that was the officially given reason?

 

[Essex Barn Workshop]

I was doing a course on the first floor of a pub in York way, close to the station. One of the other attendees was a fireman and, despite the sealed double glazing units, he interrupted the speaker and said "sorry, we need to get out NOW. I think this pub is on fire".
Shocking scenes outside that I still recall. Had to walk about a mile to find a phone box to call my wife, as I could very easily have been caught up in it had we finished early.

 

[Garno]

I was doing a course on the first floor of a pub in York way, close to the station. One of the other attendees was a fireman and, despite the sealed double glazing units, he interrupted the speaker and said "sorry, we need to get out NOW. I think this pub is on fire".
Shocking scenes outside that I still recall. Had to walk about a mile to find a phone box to call my wife, as I could very easily have been caught up in it had we finished early.

Sounds like both yourself and @Just4Fun were very fortunate that day.
It is a day that most of us over a certain age will remember for the rest of our lives.
A lot of lessons seem to have been learnt and thankfully put into practise, Sadly at such a massive cost.

 

[Stanleymonkey]

I'm a bit confused by people referring to the cigarette 'myth'

If you watch to the end - they recreate the fire and discover the 'trench effect' but they believe it started from a discarded match / cigarette.

 

[Duncan A]

I'm sure the full report would have raised other points as well, particularly the most fundamental point of firefighting - attack the fire while it's still small. Nothing was done on this occasion for over 15 minutes - training of staff and availability of fire fighting equipment is crucial. Unfortunately, the security situation at the time meant that efforts were focused on evacuation to the exclusion of fire fight.
Another fundamental: good housekeeping in any industrial plant greatly reduces the risk of slips, trips - and fires. Workshop insurance sometimes recognises this and imposes a requirement to clean up at the end of every working day.
A reminder to us all!

 

[Garno]

So many different factors played a part.
One bit that alarmed me was the fact that the grease had not been cleaned since the 1940's. In todays world the grease would be replaced every couple of years but back in the day no one could of foreseen the possible dangers of it not.
I think a lot of people would of been beating themselves up over what happened and I daresay a lot still are.

 

[AES]

Thanks for posting that Garno.

Fascinating investigation. I was still living in UK at the time and remember it well (though before seeing that video I'd have been pushed to say even which year in which it occurred). I was also fortunate not to have to use the tube regularly, only sometimes.

I must say that I too thought it was a ciggie, not a match, and was also surprised to see that the grease had not been periodically removed and replaced. As you say, RIP all those poor people.

 

[robgul]

A sobering post . . . by pure chance I saw my father about 40 minutes before the fire started - we stopped and chatted for about 15 minutes . . . we were both changing tube trains, him towards the Northern Line to Bank and the Central Line home, me to the Circle Line to Paddington and home.