Small fires with big impacts

[Keith]

For what appears at first glance to have been a small fire, this trackside fire certainly has had a big impact.

Any of our London members have more information and more generally have you attended any small fires with big impacts

[Messyshaw]

Transport fires always have the potential for serious impact in London:

• The Burger King ducting fire at Heathrow in 1997 cancelled 300 flights and seriously affected air travel across Europe for days
• A fire at a building site with acetylene cylinders, in Kings Cross in 2006 closed the station for two days - cancelling trains for a quarter of a million travellers
• Then, lie elsewhere in the UK, we have scores of incidents on & next to train tracks every year mess things up for commuters. Don't forget that London has 1.3 billion commuter journeys a year - plus tourists, so any delay can result in chaos. Trust me, I do it every day!

However it not all bad news: The transport authorities are getting better at reacting: A 2 mile length of 50 mm traction power cable was destroyed in a lunchtime fire on a surface section of tube line. OK, the evening rush was a nightmare but it was all up and running for the morning rush the next day which aint bad going

[TandA]

Add to the list one of our own vans that had an acetylene cylinder on board and caught light on the A12 (the main commuter route from Suffolk and Essex into London) shutting it for a full 24 hours.

[Cashybai]

From the horses mouth of the guvnor who attended(not me) , at the fire local train traffic was at caution initially, then nearest track was stopped for ten minutes . Network Rail closed & evacuated Euston on their own call because the place was getting overcrowded, plus the fire damaged signalling & power feeds....Only request from LFB to the RIO was to slow trains in the immediate area....