Arson possibility in station lire

Press, 21 November 1987, Page 10

Arson possibility in station lire

NZPA-AAP London As survivors of the Kings Cross underground railway station fire told stories of horror, the London fire brigade disclosed that it was investigating the possibility of arson.

Witnesses and fire investigators expressed surprise at the speed of the spread of the fire and Michael Doherty, London Fire Brigade’s deputy chief, said: “We are investigating every possibility, including arson... we have no definite evidence either way.” Thirty-four people, including a fireman and a Reuters journalist, were killed in the fire and 21 others were in hospitals being treated for burns and lung damage caused by smoke and heat Two senior fire officers who conducted an initial examination of the antiquated escalator said the fire started on top of the moving stairs leading from the Picadilly Line, and not beneath it as previously thought

The underside of the metal stairway was not touched by the fire, and the wooden treads on the steps were only slightly charred.

The investigators have initially ruled out the likelihood that the fire was caused by a mechanical fault electrical failure or ignited rubbish. Mr Doherty said: “The fire started on the surface of the Picadilly Line escalator. The underside of the escalator is unaffected, as is the machinery beneath it.” A spokesman for the London underground said of an earlier theory that rubbish under the escalator had caused the fire: "The machine room underneath was afterwards found to be clean as a whistle, and there was no fire down there.”

One witness, a trainee legal executive, Angela Campbell, raid she smelt smoke as she passed the top of the Picadilly Line escalators at about 7.15 p.m. — 20 minutes before the alarm was raised. She went down thenearby Victoria Line stairway and, at the bottom of it, saw something smouldering. “It was a black ball, smouldering away,” she said. “It looked like a black, oily cloth wrapped around something which

was burning. It looked too hot to touch and I was frightened.” She reported the fire on the police 999 emergency number after she got home. By that time, people were already dead or dying. A report written in 1985 forecast a disaster like the one which burnt out the escalator and booking hall of one of London’s busiest terminals. - Jonathon - Roberts, secretary of the commuter organisation, the

London Passenger Review Group, said 12 new safety measures were recommended to the London Underground after a fire in Oxford Circus station in 1985. Various officials of the Underground replied to these allegations yesterday, admitting that sprinklers had not been installed but maintaining that other suggestions, such as fire doors, were impractical. Spokesmen for the Fire Brigade said that organisation had no authority to enforce safety measures,

which were the province of the Underground’s own fire inspectors. It emerged yesterday morning that bereaved families and injured survivors could lodge compensation claims worth millions of dollars against the Underground. One leading lawyer said the chances of success were “very high.” As with the Manchester aircraft and Bradford football stadium fires, and the Zeebrugge ferry disaster in April, lawyers were yesterday preparing to

deal with civil damages claims that are now an inevitable consequence of such tragedies. Roger Pannone, the solicitor whose firm successfully represented victims of the Manchester and Zeebrugge tragedies, said an action was likely to be a straightforward one of negligence. The issues involved could centre on whether the operator knew of risks and whether action had been taken if the risks had been previously highlighted.