Fire at Seven Dials

Synopsis: In September 1999, the London Fire Brigade attended what at first appeared to be a routine fire at a video editing company, which occupied one of the commercial units of an old warehouse in the fashionable Covent Garden district of London. Faced with large amounts of thick black smoke and an oily film building up on their masks the seat of the fire was difficult to find. By the time they had discovered it was above their heads, within the ceiling void, the fire had spread to the rest of the building and they had a very large fire on their hands.

The attending London Fire Brigade Fire Investigation Officer, David Townsend, had by chance some weeks earlier been made aware of work being undertaken by BRE’s, Fire and Risk Sciences Division. As part of a research programme looking at the fire properties of local area network cables, installed within these ceiling voids, FRS had found that certain types of these cables could well contribute to the development and spread of fire.

This video gives a unique insight into the work of the London Fire Brigade Investigation Unit .
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of release: 2002
Year of production: 2002
Subjects: Civil Engineering & Building; Health & safety
Keywords: building materials; fire investigation; telecommunication systems

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British Universities Film & Video Council