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Commuters in blaze chaos
Last updated at 15:21pm on 26.04.07
Flashpoint: firemen tackle the huge blaze at a factory in Deptford
Commuters face disruption this evening following a huge fire near one of London's busiest rail junctions.
Thick smoke and a series of explosions from gas cylinders forced the closure of six lines this morning as the blaze destroyed two warehouses in Deptford.
More than 130,000 passengers were stranded or delayed as hundreds of trains were cancelled.
About 200 residents in Trundleys Road and Canal Approach had to flee their homes in their nightclothes in the early hours.
At midday fire officers said they had the blaze under control and allowed Southeastern to run test trains along the tracks in case of signal or cabling faults caused by the blaze close to New Cross junction.
Southeastern spokesman Nigel Jarrett said: "We will be working to provide the best service we can for this evening's peak period. But there will be disruption because of trains and crews being out of place. We strongly advise all our passengers to check before they travel."
This morning virtually all services operated by Southeastern into Charing Cross, Cannon Street, London Bridge and Waterloo East were cancelled. Many others were diverted to Blackfriars and Victoria causing further delays. There was better news for commuters heading into London tomorrow with Southeastern forecasting a return to normal service.
Explosions rocked the area this morning as smoke billowed hundreds of feet over the scene. Firefighters set up a 200-yard exclusion zone because of the fear of more gas cylinders exploding.
The fire service said that in an area of 150 yards by 50 yards more than 60 per cent of the buildings were alight.
The fire first took hold in two warehouses off Trundleys Road and Canal Approach just after midnight and destroyed most of both buildings.
Firefighters discovered that one warehouse, belonging to a brewery, contained carbon dioxide cylinders and the other belonged to a construction-company containing at least one volatile acetylene cylinder. Fifty firefighters were initially called to deal with the blaze.
London Fire Brigade said the unknown number of gas cylinders on the site was causing them problems. Station manager Ray Dwan said the presence of acetylene cylinders meant that the exclusion zone would have to stay in place for another night. He said: "Because we have got acetylene cylinders involved we need to have a 24-hour cooling-off period when we just basically pour water on the fire and the cylinders.
"It's more than likely that people will have to spend another night out of their homes. We have no idea how it started but once we can get in there a full investigation will be launched."
Lewisham council's borough emergency officer Steve Gough said plans were in place to help evacuees if they were not allowed to return home.
He said: "We are not sure how long this incident is going to continue so we are putting plans in place in case they are out for another night."
Mr Jarrett added: "It was very serious. We had major disruption to all our services. The fire could not have happened at a worse place."
Kevin Groves of Network Rail said: "We were alerted about 3am and then, as the seriousness of the fire developed, we had to close six tracks. We are unable to say at the moment how long disruption will last."
This morning Southeastern switched as many services as possible to Victoria - using detours around New Cross.
But this resulted in trains queuing behind one another to enter the already busy terminal.
When thousands more passengers finally arrived at Victoria they found their troubles were far from over.
London Underground was forced to close Victoria Tube station for frequent intervals to allow time for crowds to disperse from the platforms.
Extra British Transport police were drafted in to help crowd control. Many commuters simply gave up trying to get on the Tube and continued by foot.
The Brighton to Bedford Thameslink services was running but with delays. They are diverted via Elephant and Castle.
The only services able to use London Bridge were Southern Rail trains using two tracks farthest away from the blaze.
A spokesman for Network Rail said: "This was a massive fire which caused huge amounts of problems for us and for passengers trying to get to work."
For all train running information visit www.nationalrail.co.uk or telephone 08457 484950.
Reader views (7)
Seriously, I'd say to those businesses, tough. Move (with assistance) or lose. This kind of thing happens far too often and needs to be addressed. Whether it's someone travelling from Winchester, or going out to Brussells, the disruption shouldn't happen.
As for the costs and disruption around relocating, I know quite a bit about it. I've had to cancel two meetings today as key people couldn't attend them because of this fire... and one of the meetings involves a relocation project due to the new Olympic Stadium.
The idea of putting a barrage in the way is a good one, but can you really see Notwork Fail really having the organisational nouse to deal with this and implement it readily? The one train they have available (bound to be only one) will probably be in Rotherham.
- Md, London, UK
I'll have a pint of whatever Nigel's drinking!
- David, London
Nice idea MD, but how would you feel if you were told that you had to relocate your business because you did welding and your current premises were within 200 yards of a railway line? Many businesses would not survive the cost and disruption of an enforced move.
Personally I'd have thought a better idea was a train of wagons that could be parked on the track nearest such a blaze as a movable shield. An exploding gas cylinder surely couldn't send shrapnel through four feet of gravel or sand, so trains could still run on the other tracks.
- Nigel, London
As it is necessary to have a 200 yard exclusion zone around areas of fire where gas cylinders are present, why not just prohibit the storage of cylinders within 200 yards of a railway, therby avoiding causing this disruption.
Is it so difficult?
- Md, London, UK
Not yet, but with a bit more global warming, Deptford could definitely become a submarine.
- Brian, London
I think Trevor Roll actually means 'razing it to the ground'. Deptford is not subterranean (yet).
- John Evans, London, UK
I know that Deptford could benefit from some urban renewal but raising it to the ground's a bit extreme.
- Trevor Roll, London
