The King's Cross fire. Part 1: The physical injuries

Fire broke out at the end of the evening rush-hour at King's Cross Underground Station, London on the 18 November 1987. Fifty-eight people were killed or injured by the flash-over in the main ticket concourse at the top of the escalator, beneath which the fire began. Twenty-eight survivors were treated for thermal injuries of a broad spectrum of severity but with a similar pattern. The sequence of events in the initial response, the distribution of patients and the pattern of injuries with details of their management over 2 years are described. The psychological effects of the disaster on the patients involved are detailed in Part 2, the accompanying article (D. Sturgeon, R. Rosser and P. Shoenberg (1991) Burns 17, (1), 10-13).