Looking back at history, we take a trip to London, November 18, 1987, when a fire broke out in the escalators at King’s Cross station and a total of 30 civilians perished.

“I was based at Stratford fire station in east London. We had just started a 15-hour night shift, when we heard over the radio a major incident had been declared at King’s Cross Tube station, and we knew a serious fire was in progress.

During the next few hours, the full horror of the fire unfolded, and news reached us a member of the brigade was missing.

This was the pre-mobile phone era, and we knew something tragic had happened when senior officers at the fire were told to contact the control room by landline.

The news soon reached us that the fire had claimed the life of Station Officer Colin Townsley, who was among the first firefighters to arrive at the incident.

The fire and the subsequent public inquiry by Sir Desmond Fennell led to a number of changes to both firefighting procedures and equipment.

View the news footage from the time or read the entire article.

Filed under: Fighting Fire, That Was Then