Thirty-nine years ago today, on November 18th, 1986 (October 17th, 1986 in the lunar calendar), a fire broke out in London Underground, killing 32 people and injuring more than 100 others. There is one of the busiest subway stations in London, the capital of England-King's Cross Subway Station, which is the hub station of London Metro and the intersection of five major subway trunk lines leading to the northeast of England, Scotland and Yorkshire. It accepts more than 300,000 passengers every day. On the evening of November 18th, 1986, a major fire broke out in this subway station, killing 32 people, injuring more than 100 others and causing serious economic losses. The fire started at the bottom of an escalator. The escalator of the subway station is an ancient wooden elevator, which is extremely old and has a history of more than 40 years. The fire spread rapidly and smoke billowed. At that time, passengers waiting in the subway station were in a mess, and the central ticket hall was full of people running in chaos. People coughed, shed tears and fell into incomparable fear. There are people lying scattered on the ground, some of whom have been burned beyond recognition, and frightened people flee. The fire in the subway station burned for four hours before it was put out. After the subway fire broke out, Paul Jane, then British Transport Secretary, immediately rushed to the fire scene to direct the fire fighting and rescue work. Queen Elizabeth II expressed shock at the disaster. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher personally visited the scene of the accident and went to the hospital to visit the wounded. More than 150 firefighters took part in the fire fight. Firefighters were once blocked because they didn't get the subway passage distribution map and oxygen protective mask in time. In order to prevent the irrational passengers from throwing themselves into fire, the police and firefighters blocked some dangerous exits and transferred a train from the subway station to transport the passengers surrounded by the fire. During the whole fire-fighting process, many firefighters didn't carry gas masks, and the fire-fighting work was extremely difficult and dangerous. However, firefighters were brave and tenacious and paid a heavy price. Two people were seriously injured and one died in the line of duty. This London Underground fire is the first fire in the world's subway system in history. There are different opinions about the cause of this fire. According to the investigation by the London police, the fire was caused by the garbage piled up under the elevator being ignited by the sparks emitted by the elevator engine. Some people said it was caused by the discarded cigarette butts that had not been extinguished. So after the fire, smoking was completely banned in the British subway system. When a fire breaks out in the subway, there are many difficulties in carrying out fire fighting work. The underground site is narrow, and it is difficult for large fire fighting vehicles and equipment to approach the fire fighting site; Underground smoke exhaust is inconvenient. Once a fire breaks out, smoke billows everywhere, and it is difficult to tell the direction. Therefore, after the fire broke out in London Underground, the subway management departments in many countries responded quickly and generally strengthened the fire fighting work.