Summary
On 18 November, 1987, at approximately 1930 hours, a fire broke-out beneath escalator 4 (Piccadilly Line), at King’s Cross St. Pancras underground station. A series of oversights allowed the fire to grow until the smoke reached an explosive flash point, and a fireball occurred within the main ticketing hall. King’s Cross: Beneath the Flames discusses this disastrous peak-hour fire in the London Underground railway, in which 31 people died and hundreds were injured - the worst fire in London Transport’s history. In the aftermath (and with the privilege of hindsight), investigation revealed a host of comparatively small steps in the lead-up to the disaster. Lack of training and inefficient fire fighting equipment were held as important catalysts to the disaster, as were senior management’s lack of attention to similar symptomatic occurrences within the whole of the underground complex.