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Why you can't smoke in public places

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

in a closed environment?

That would be wrong

Smoking must use fire

The presence of spark may cause a fire

And when the fire really came

Evacuation and rescue in unfamiliar environment

would be a big problem

Especially the design of some places

is totally unexpected

An underground station fire in London in 1987 said it all

Platform 9¾ at King's Cross Station

it awakens reminiscences of your youth, right?

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

Actually in real life,

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

Beautiful majestic Victorian style is already a landscape.

Later, it was sought after by magic fans

King's Cross station is famous overseas

It has become a must-see famous point in London

Unfortunately few people know that

there was a serious fire here

November 18, 1987

King's Cross was crowded with commuters rushing home

Plus the shopping season was coming

The station was quite busy

Throughput of at least 250,000 passengers per day

So the escalator was naturally overloaded

So that it needed maintenance every two days

And most of the escalators at that time

all made of wooden slats and rubber handrails

After tinkering,

there's probably another 20 coats of paint

No one remembers what the background color of the board is

but it's doesn't matter

Two weeks before the accident,

there were obvious gaps between steps and sides of escalator

Although it is not big

it has to be repaired in time

Due to the end of the year

there's significantly fewer maintenance workers at London Station

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

Given lessons from other accidents

London stations are non-smoking

But since there are no mandatory measures

when commuters generally leave the ticket hall

they couldn't bear it when standing on the escalator

so smoking on the escalator had become the norm

Around 7:30 p.m.

a commuter reminded a conductor, Phillip Brickell

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

Philip immediately put down his work

Sure enough, he found a burning tissue

So quickly put it out

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

The station is non-smoking

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

He didn't tell the other colleagues

He didn't even report to the leadership

It seems that this piece of paper

was the last warning before the fire.

Too bad people didn't notice

and the flames breed quietly in a corner of the station

Commuters kept reporting that

seeing a plume of smoke while riding the escalator

At this time, the security inspector

Christopher Hayes went to check out

He found the fire was under the escalator

and cannot be extinguished with a fire extinguisher

So he tried to check the sprinkler system

But the system belongs to another department

he doesn't know how to do it

but even so

He still didn't call the firemen

as the smoke grew

Christopher just realized the seriousness of the problem

So he ran first to stop the train from stopping

to evacuate all personnel

Luckily one cop managed to get to the ground

and called the fire department

Soon the firefighters went down to check the situation

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

Firefighters only saw flames about the size of a cardboard box

It is determined that the fire is not large

don't panic

Actually at this time

The entire bottom of the escalator is on fire.

As the passing trains past

Fresh air kept blowing into the tunnel

The train just acts as a piston

And the whole subway station is more like a huge bellows

It's filled with superheated gas all at once

At this time, thick smoke billowed in the ticket hall

The smell of heated rubber is very bad

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

This station is full of smoke

and they can't even see the exit

But it's too late

The train behind has left

They can only bite the bullet and squeeze in the chaos

to try to escape

To evacuate passengers

there were staff directing them

to take another escape elevator

and go to the ticket hall on the upper level

Unexpectedly, this actually pushed the passengers into the abyss

At approximately 7:45 pm

Another train crashed into the station,

brought a lot of fresh oxygen

Everyone thought the fire was under control

but this rush let the already dying flames burn again

Billowing smoke straight up,

sparked a raging fire

and devoured everything around

Especially the passengers who escaped upwards

All fell to the ground by this sudden fireball attack

plus black smoke

Many people can't even stand up

According to the statistics

About 700 passengers were still trapped underground at this time.

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

some people even ran onto the train tracks in desperation,

trying to escape this horrible hell

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

In the chaos, the crowd blocked the exit again,

hampered rescue efforts

the enormous heat generated in the fire

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

caused extensive shedding

slammed on commuter causing serious injuries

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

at least 600 degrees Celsius

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

Firefighting and search and rescue operations lasted all night

until 6 hours later

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

The fire was completely extinguished

the reason why rescue work was so difficult is that

the ferocious fire and

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

It is said it's locked in an office

And no one knows who holds the key

it's seriously affected the progress of the rescue work

The fire killed 31 people

100 injured

that's a heavily lost

A station policeman named Colin Townsley disappeared

after going underground with the firefighters

Rescuers later found that

his body lying next to a badly burned passenger

It turned out that Colin was helping the passenger

Unexpectedly, he was also shrouded in smoke

just can't breathe anymore

After the rescue

Investigation began immediately

Everyone was wondering about one question

How come in just tens of seconds

the flames suddenly climbed up the escalator

to form a jet fireball?

According to eyewitnesses and firefighters

earlier, fire on escalator was completely under the control

And there were already several firefighters on the scene

Everyone had no sense of crisis

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

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

Some even began to suspect that this was a terrorist attack

Finally, the combustion power expert showed up

They built the escalator model of King's Cross station

The fire scene was simulated using a supercomputer

after the escalator caught fire

originally upward flame

suddenly parallel advance along the escalator

and spread rapidly

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

Experts call this phenomenon the "trench effect".

Let's take a look

The Coanda effect is also known as the wall attachment effect

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

and changes to the tendency to flow with protruding surfaces

The most common example is when we pour water

The water will flow out along the wall of the container

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

changes the original vertical upward movement path

straight up the slope

As the heat continues to climb

There's a new train coming in

infusing fresh oxygen again and again

This creates a chimney effect

This is better to understand

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

When hot air rises

it draws outside air in to fill

so there's excellent combustion effect

Under the combination of these two phenomena

Trench effect arises from this

the fire is burning greater

and becomes unstoppable

Presumably, the fire started because someone lit a cigarette

unextinguished match fell through the gap in the escalator steps

which ignited a large amount of dust, bits and paint

that has accumulated in the escalator running track

nobody knows who caused that

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

littering cigarette butts and matches had become commonplace

It is understood that a few years before the fire

The Director of Station Operations once proposed

accumulated paint can pose a fire hazard

But that's beyond his remit.

So there is no more text

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

like when it first started

after conductor Philip being called out to dispose of burning tissues

he immediately returned to his post

he did not delve into it

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

so he automatically blocked it

Indeed, an insider later revealed

because the station staff were warned

that do not contact the fire department casually

Otherwise it will cause unnecessary panic

It's just incredible to us now

there is a large part of the reason that

these seemingly indifferent behaviors far from duty

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

Each employee only needed to do their own specific work

and don't need to ask anything else

Simply put, don't meddle

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

For example, the conductor only cared about handling tickets

they can maximize efficiency

So Philip didn't tell anyone about the tissues

maybe it's also because

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

he didn't want any more trouble

And not only employees do not exceed their authority

Even the various departments will not interfere with each other

For example, the underground system is divided into 4 departments

signal engineering

electrical engineering

Civil and Mechanical Engineering

Each department has its own hierarchical network,

responsible for its own jurisdiction

In short, each department worked independently

Although this seems to be in order

in practice, there were many disadvantages

they lack of communication among employees

They will not actively share information with each other

not to mention "extraordinary" things

Most importantly, they lack of safety training

Christopher, as a safety inspector,

can't even control the sprinkler system

let alone other staff

And all of this is because of the upper

Staff were not trained in such a big station

no exaggeration, it's just a matter of time

And what's even more shocking is that

after the accident

many managements at Kings Cross station all resigned

Except of course the irresponsible upper management

The escalator itself existed years of litter and dirt

plus heavy paint

and the missing station plan

These are all details before the disaster

No one cares

Even noticed, they'll be like

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

A little leak will sink a great ship

When all the little bugs collide

they can also cause devastating disasters

After the accident

All wooden escalators at the station were replaced

Fire extinguishers and alarms were also installed

besides,

automatic sprinkler system,

the fire detection system is also fully installed in place

Many slogans also appeared at King's Cross Station

like prohibiting random littering

No smoking

The disaster also sounded the alarm to the whole world

Trench effect especially

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

leaving a profound lesson for future generations

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

Did you find out

sometimes the cause of a catastrophe is very small

but always due to a series of errors

they led to a fatal disaster

Through these accidents, we can also feel that

the cost of ignoring risk is simply too high

More importantly, no matter what industry

Departments need to break down information islands,

so everyone will complete the goal together

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

Even if it's just a little spark

Well, that's the end of this video.

What do you think of this disaster?

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I'm Zheng Zheng

See you the next video