WEBVTT

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Why you can't smoke in public places

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is it because everybody doesn't want to smoke secondhand smoke

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in a closed environment?

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That would be wrong

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Smoking must use fire

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The presence of spark may cause a fire

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And when the fire really came

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Evacuation and rescue in unfamiliar environment

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would be a big problem

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Especially the design of some places

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is totally unexpected

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An underground station fire in London in 1987 said it all

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Platform 9¾ at King's Cross Station

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it awakens reminiscences of your youth, right?

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I think it's because of Harry Potter that you know this station, right?

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Actually in real life,

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King's Cross station is the oldest, one of the busiest railway stations in London

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Beautiful majestic Victorian style is already a landscape.

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Later, it was sought after by magic fans

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King's Cross station is famous overseas

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It has become a must-see famous point in London

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Unfortunately few people know that

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there was a serious fire here

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November 18, 1987

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King's Cross was crowded with commuters rushing home

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Plus the shopping season was coming

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The station was quite busy

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Throughput of at least 250,000 passengers per day

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So the escalator was naturally overloaded

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So that it needed maintenance every two days

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And most of the escalators at that time

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all made of wooden slats and rubber handrails

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After tinkering,

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there's probably another 20 coats of paint

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No one remembers what the background color of the board is

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but it's doesn't matter

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Two weeks before the accident,

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there were obvious gaps between steps and sides of escalator

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Although it is not big

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it has to be repaired in time

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Due to the end of the year

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there's significantly fewer maintenance workers at London Station

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Therefore, the repair work of the gap has been delayed.

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Given lessons from other accidents

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London stations are non-smoking

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But since there are no mandatory measures

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when commuters generally leave the ticket hall

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they couldn't bear it when standing on the escalator

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so smoking on the escalator had become the norm

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Around 7:30 p.m.

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a commuter reminded a conductor, Phillip Brickell

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There's a piece of paper on fire at the bottom of the escalator

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Philip immediately put down his work

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Sure enough, he found a burning tissue

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So quickly put it out

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In the end, he went straight back to his post.

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The station is non-smoking

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Philip didn't even think about where the fire came from

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He didn't tell the other colleagues

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He didn't even report to the leadership

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It seems that this piece of paper

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was the last warning before the fire.

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Too bad people didn't notice

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and the flames breed quietly in a corner of the station

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Commuters kept reporting that

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seeing a plume of smoke while riding the escalator

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At this time, the security inspector

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Christopher Hayes went to check out

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He found the fire was under the escalator

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and cannot be extinguished with a fire extinguisher

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So he tried to check the sprinkler system

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But the system belongs to another department

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he doesn't know how to do it

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but even so

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He still didn't call the firemen

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as the smoke grew

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Christopher just realized the seriousness of the problem

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So he ran first to stop the train from stopping

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to evacuate all personnel

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Luckily one cop managed to get to the ground

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and called the fire department

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Soon the firefighters went down to check the situation

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Due to the location of the fire is in a blind spot

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Firefighters only saw flames about the size of a cardboard box

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It is determined that the fire is not large

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don't panic

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Actually at this time

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The entire bottom of the escalator is on fire.

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As the passing trains past

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Fresh air kept blowing into the tunnel

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The train just acts as a piston

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And the whole subway station is more like a huge bellows

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It's filled with superheated gas all at once

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At this time, thick smoke billowed in the ticket hall

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The smell of heated rubber is very bad

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It's a nightmare for passengers who just got off the bus

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This station is full of smoke

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and they can't even see the exit

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But it's too late

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The train behind has left

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They can only bite the bullet and squeeze in the chaos

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to try to escape

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To evacuate passengers

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there were staff directing them

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to take another escape elevator

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and go to the ticket hall on the upper level

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Unexpectedly, this actually pushed the passengers into the abyss

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At approximately 7:45 pm

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Another train crashed into the station,

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brought a lot of fresh oxygen

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Everyone thought the fire was under control

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but this rush let the already dying flames burn again

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Billowing smoke straight up,

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sparked a raging fire

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and devoured everything around

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Especially the passengers who escaped upwards

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All fell to the ground by this sudden fireball attack

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plus black smoke

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Many people can't even stand up

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According to the statistics

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About 700 passengers were still trapped underground at this time.

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As the escalator connecting to the ground had been surrounded by fire

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some people even ran onto the train tracks in desperation,

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trying to escape this horrible hell

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The ticket hall was already packed with commuters during the evening rush hour

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In the chaos, the crowd blocked the exit again,

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hampered rescue efforts

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the enormous heat generated in the fire

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made the cement of the ceiling expand after the structure loses water

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caused extensive shedding

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slammed on commuter causing serious injuries

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The entire station had been turned into a high-temperature furnace

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at least 600 degrees Celsius

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Firefighters had to spray each other with water guns to cool down

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Firefighting and search and rescue operations lasted all night

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until 6 hours later

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That is, at 1:45 in the morning of the next day

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The fire was completely extinguished

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the reason why rescue work was so difficult is that

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the ferocious fire and

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the firefighters didn't get the plans for the station.

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It is said it's locked in an office

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And no one knows who holds the key

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it's seriously affected the progress of the rescue work

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The fire killed 31 people

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100 injured

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that's a heavily lost

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A station policeman named Colin Townsley disappeared

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after going underground with the firefighters

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Rescuers later found that

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his body lying next to a badly burned passenger

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It turned out that Colin was helping the passenger

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Unexpectedly, he was also shrouded in smoke

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just can't breathe anymore

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After the rescue

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Investigation began immediately

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Everyone was wondering about one question

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How come in just tens of seconds

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the flames suddenly climbed up the escalator

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to form a jet fireball?

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According to eyewitnesses and firefighters

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earlier, fire on escalator was completely under the control

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And there were already several firefighters on the scene

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Everyone had no sense of crisis

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People's cognition of the flame on the inclined surface is limited

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So they can't find the reason why the fire spread fast

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Some even began to suspect that this was a terrorist attack

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Finally, the combustion power expert showed up

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They built the escalator model of King's Cross station

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The fire scene was simulated using a supercomputer

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after the escalator caught fire

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originally upward flame

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suddenly parallel advance along the escalator

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and spread rapidly

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Turns out it's a combination of the Coanda effect and the chimney effect

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Experts call this phenomenon the "trench effect".

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Let's take a look

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The Coanda effect is also known as the wall attachment effect

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it refers to the direction in which the fluid moves away from the original direction of flow

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and changes to the tendency to flow with protruding surfaces

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The most common example is when we pour water

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The water will flow out along the wall of the container

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And after the superheated gas at the fire site encountered the escalator

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changes the original vertical upward movement path

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straight up the slope

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As the heat continues to climb

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There's a new train coming in

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infusing fresh oxygen again and again

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This creates a chimney effect

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This is better to understand

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When a fire breaks out in a high-rise building, it often occurs

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When hot air rises

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it draws outside air in to fill

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so there's excellent combustion effect

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Under the combination of these two phenomena

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Trench effect arises from this

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the fire is burning greater

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and becomes unstoppable

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Presumably, the fire started because someone lit a cigarette

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unextinguished match fell through the gap in the escalator steps

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which ignited a large amount of dust, bits and paint

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that has accumulated in the escalator running track

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nobody knows who caused that

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After all, a group of people were smoking on the escalator

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littering cigarette butts and matches had become commonplace

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It is understood that a few years before the fire

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The Director of Station Operations once proposed

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accumulated paint can pose a fire hazard

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But that's beyond his remit.

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So there is no more text

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Do you think the subway staff seem to be a bit incompetent

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like when it first started

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after conductor Philip being called out to dispose of burning tissues

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he immediately returned to his post

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he did not delve into it

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It seem like it's not a matter of his job

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so he automatically blocked it

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Indeed, an insider later revealed

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because the station staff were warned

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that do not contact the fire department casually

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Otherwise it will cause unnecessary panic

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It's just incredible to us now

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there is a large part of the reason that

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these seemingly indifferent behaviors far from duty

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comes from a set of unwritten operating rules of the London Underground

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Each employee only needed to do their own specific work

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and don't need to ask anything else

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Simply put, don't meddle

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Of course, there were pros and cons to this approach.

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For example, the conductor only cared about handling tickets

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they can maximize efficiency

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So Philip didn't tell anyone about the tissues

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maybe it's also because

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this thing in itself has gone above and beyond his duty.

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he didn't want any more trouble

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And not only employees do not exceed their authority

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Even the various departments will not interfere with each other

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For example, the underground system is divided into 4 departments

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signal engineering

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electrical engineering

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Civil and Mechanical Engineering

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Each department has its own hierarchical network,

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responsible for its own jurisdiction

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In short, each department worked independently

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Although this seems to be in order

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in practice, there were many disadvantages

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they lack of communication among employees

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They will not actively share information with each other

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not to mention "extraordinary" things

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Most importantly, they lack of safety training

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Christopher, as a safety inspector,

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can't even control the sprinkler system

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let alone other staff

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And all of this is because of the upper

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Staff were not trained in such a big station

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no exaggeration, it's just a matter of time

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And what's even more shocking is that

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after the accident

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many managements at Kings Cross station all resigned

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Except of course the irresponsible upper management

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The escalator itself existed years of litter and dirt

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plus heavy paint

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and the missing station plan

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These are all details before the disaster

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No one cares

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Even noticed, they'll be like

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"oh", "it's not my business" and "forget it"

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A little leak will sink a great ship

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When all the little bugs collide

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they can also cause devastating disasters

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After the accident

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All wooden escalators at the station were replaced

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Fire extinguishers and alarms were also installed

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besides,

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automatic sprinkler system,

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the fire detection system is also fully installed in place

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Many slogans also appeared at King's Cross Station

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like prohibiting random littering

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No smoking

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The disaster also sounded the alarm to the whole world

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Trench effect especially

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It was also regarded as a classic fire protection case for science popularization,

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leaving a profound lesson for future generations

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I've also talked about many tragic accidents to this day.

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Did you find out

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sometimes the cause of a catastrophe is very small

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but always due to a series of errors

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they led to a fatal disaster

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Through these accidents, we can also feel that

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the cost of ignoring risk is simply too high

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More importantly, no matter what industry

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Departments need to break down information islands,

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so everyone will complete the goal together

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In short, any little thing can't be taken lightly

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Even if it's just a little spark

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Well, that's the end of this video.

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What do you think of this disaster?

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You can leave a message below

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If you think the video is good

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Don't forget to like, collect and vote

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I'm Zheng Zheng

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See you the next video