Central London Fire Major Incident Underground Evacuations Holborn closed

Major Incident declared, possible cause electrical fire.


www.telegraph.co.uk...

• Huge fire in central London leads to widespread evacuation
• Two thousand people leave buildings in Holborn
• Electrical blaze starts among underground cables on Kingsway
• Fire crews wait for hours for utility companies to turn off power
• Metropolitan Police declare major incident and close road in both directions
• People urged to avoid area as commuters braced for disruptionHuge fire starts among underground cables in central London
• High Court judges among those caught up in evacuation 'chaos'
• Witnesses 'struggle to breath' as smoke seeps through drains
• People urged to avoid area as commuters braced for gridlock
• Gallery: dramatic pictures from scene of ongoing blaze
• Video: footage captures flames coming up street in Kingsway

Updates:

17.25
Holborn fire: Witnesses 'struggle to breathe'
Witnesses report 'chaos' as smoke seeps through drains after electrical blaze under pavement in Kingsway, central London, causes widespread evacuation
Witnesses have been speaking about how the whole area "seems to be in darkness" as the blaze continues this afternoon.
Teacher Cath Davies said she had been in a cafe waiting for a friend when customers were asked to leave.
"There are a lot of curious people wondering what's happened," said Ms Davies. "Kingsway is blocked off and there are police and firemen everywhere.
"From the end of the street you could see smoke pouring out. It seemed to be coming from under a building. The area seems to be in darkness."
Onlookers have reported struggling to breathe and "chaos" in the area as those evacuated waited on the street and traffic began to pile up.

The blaze is in the heart of Theatreland and is leading to disruption for ticketholders of several shows tonight.
Performance of The Lion King, at the Lyceum; Beautiful, at the Aldwych; and The Play That Goes Wrong, at the Duchess, are all reported to have been cancelled as the fire-fighting operation continues.

a reply to: theabsolutetruth
As of this time the BBC are not yet covering this one, but that could be due to the fact that they are remote from the location.

They are doing so much work upgrading the aging infrastructure in london I can see a mistake happening and a fire starting.

I sense the hoax bin nearby

Bit of a cheap April's fools to be honest.

I see what you are saying, but I don't think your feeling is right in this case.a reply to: Zcustosmorum

originally posted by: hotel1
I see what you are saying, but I don't think your feeling is right in this case.a reply to: Zcustosmorum

Just read another link from The Guardian, apparently there is a fire but it's still really a non-event story.

a reply to: Zcustosmorum
It didn't make the BBC news at five. I think the biggest coverage will be the disruption on the traffic and travel reports.

a reply to: Zcustosmorum

It is an ''event'' for those caught up in it, be that travel chaos, smoke inhalation, evacuations, or trying to get places on time, waiting for people etc.

originally posted by: theabsolutetruth
a reply to: Zcustosmorum

It is an ''event'' for those caught up in it, be that travel chaos, smoke inhalation, evacuations, or trying to get places on time, waiting for people etc.

Quite true, you caught the story early on and you were right to post it because as we have seen on here before big events often start small.

originally posted by: Zcustosmorum

originally posted by: hotel1
I see what you are saying, but I don't think your feeling is right in this case.a reply to: Zcustosmorum

Just read another link from The Guardian, apparently there is a fire but it's still really a non-event story.

2,000 people have been evacuated and the fire is spreading beneath a main road, so....

Police have declared a major incident over a blaze which began under the pavement of a main road in central London, the fire brigade said.

More than 2,000 people have been evacuated from Kingsway in Holborn while firefighters tackle the electrical blaze, which started among cables.

Link

originally posted by: raedar

originally posted by: Zcustosmorum

originally posted by: hotel1
I see what you are saying, but I don't think your feeling is right in this case.a reply to: Zcustosmorum

Just read another link from The Guardian, apparently there is a fire but it's still really a non-event story.

2,000 people have been evacuated and the fire is spreading beneath a main road, so....

Police have declared a major incident over a blaze which began under the pavement of a main road in central London, the fire brigade said.

More than 2,000 people have been evacuated from Kingsway in Holborn while firefighters tackle the electrical blaze, which started among cables.

Link

Indeed, yet still no BBC coverage which could be interpreted as a little odd. The election campaign is the main story obviously, EU Milk quotas, and the death of John Lennon's first wife. It might be worth keeping a weather eye on this one for a while yet.

a reply to: hotel1

It's showing on BBC now, albeit under a load of other 'headlines', the new style BBC news online isn't a good design IMO, I don't have the urge to read it due to it's irritating UI and eye ache design.

www.bbc.co.uk...

originally posted by: theabsolutetruth
a reply to: hotel1

It's showing on BBC now, albeit under a load of other 'headlines', the new style BBC news online isn't a good design IMO, I don't have the urge to read it due to it's irritating UI and eye ache design.

www.bbc.co.uk...

So it is, well spotted, it seems the BBC don't consider it a big deal at the moment.

Some more details here:

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk...

Caused by a combination of a leaking gas main and fire in a electrical station. If the insulation of all those electrical, fiber-optic and gas pipes has melted, that's going to leave things in a big mess.

originally posted by: Zcustosmorum
I sense the hoax bin nearby

Bit of a cheap April's fools to be honest.

Not at all - it's giving me a bloody busy night tonight!

originally posted by: stormcell
If the insulation of all those electrical, fiber-optic and gas pipes has melted, that's going to leave things in a big mess.

Oh, it's melted alright....

I'm now spending my night trying to sort out re-routes to get service back...

As for the BBC now showing any details, it seems well covered here:

www.bbc.co.uk...

a reply to: stormcell

Reports of 5000 were evacuated and lots of Theatre shows powerless midway into shows, companies complaining lost revenue, lots of businesses closed for the night.

www.bbc.co.uk...

He said the fire started in a large service duct which carries electrical and gas cables and water pipes beneath the street.
"We have some very high-powered cables down there which is causing a hazard to our crews," he said.
Mr Squires said: "We can see flames coming out of the pavement, which looks quite dramatic, but that is the gas pipe - it has now ruptured and that has now ignited and the gas is burning off and that, if anything, makes it safer for us as the gas is being burnt off."

a reply to: theabsolutetruth

There is a lot of cabling down there - both us and BT have lost a lot of comms stuff, there are power lines, gas lines...

It's a mess and it's going to take days to sort out

Just had an update - London Fire Brigade have advised that there will be no access to the site until at least 0800, they are still putting out the fire and there is a risk of Carbon Monoxide being present as well as other harmful chemicals. Mains power is expected to be down for at least 48 hours.

a reply to: stumason

I bet there is. I guess at least it wasn't worse as in an explosion. An extra day or two off for some perhaps and some angry businesses /busy insurance guys.