Oxford Circus fire

The Oxford Circus fire occurred on Friday 23 November 1984 at 9.50pm at Oxford Circus station on the London Underground. Oxford Circus station is in the heart of London's shopping district and is served by three deep-level tube lines: the Bakerloo line, Central line and Victoria line. The three lines are linked by a complex network of tunnels and cross-passages which all converge to a common booking hall situated beneath the junction of Oxford Street and Regent Street.

The fire started in a materials store at the south end of the northbound Victoria line platform, which was being used by contractors working on the modernisation of the station. It gutted the northbound Victoria line platform tunnel and the passages leading off it. The adjacent northbound Bakerloo line platform suffered smoke damage, as did the escalator tunnel and the booking hall. Other areas of the station were undamaged. The most likely cause of the fire was a smoker discarding smoking materials through a ventilation grille into the materials store, which ignited rags or paint thinner.

At 9.50pm, a station inspector, on duty in the mezzanine level, was told by a passenger of smoke on the platform. He took a piece of wood with him down to the platform, expecting to deal with something smouldering on the track. When he saw that it was the contractors' storage area on fire, he tried to use a telephone in a kiosk nearby, but opening the door of the kiosk released thick smoke that drove him back. He then retreated and started the evacuation.

Oxford Circus station was rapidly evacuated when the fire was discovered, and the London Fire Brigade conducted a sweep of the station which confirmed that all passengers were clear. The fire alert disrupted the routes of 10 trains on the three lines: passengers on six of the trains were evacuated at stations and passengers on four trains were escorted down the running tunnels to adjacent stations. The last passenger evacuated from these trains left the track at 12.45am. 30 pumps attended the fire, which was declared extinguished just before 3am the next day.

No-one was killed as a result of the fire; 14 people (four passengers, one police officer and nine members of London Underground staff) were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation, of whom all but one were released next day.

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