back to article Power, internet access knackered in London after exploding kit burps fire into capital's streets

Some of the UK's ISPs may want to rethink their routing schemes after a massive fire near Holborn tube station in London knocked out power and internet access across several regions of the capital. There are now around 70 firefighters at the #Holbornfire no reports of injuries and local offices have been evacuated pic.twitter …

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  1. WookieBill

    We are on high holborn :- currently looking like we will be down another day

    My companies head office is on High Holborn. We lost power at around 12pm yesterday. Once our emergency lighting failed after 3 hours we evacuated (to the pub over the road which still had power). The on-site UPS had a fairly short battery life so our domain controller on-site was not able to be shut down cleanly and we are a little concerned about some of the switches coming back to life or not. Our company is citrix based and most stuff is tucked away in a data center, so loss of systems is not a major worry. Unfortunately, our CAG was not provisioned for DR, as a result we only have 40 remote access licences and far more staff than that, so for most people, working from home is not an option. Also, from the last update from building management, we are unlikely to have power tomorrow either, as they can't get into the tunnels under Kingsway and are going to have to dig up the road. It's going to be interesting!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: We are on high holborn :- currently looking like we will be down another day

      Unfortunately, our CAG was not provisioned for DR, as a result we only have 40 remote access licences and far more staff than that, so for most people, working from home is not an option

      Let me guess: none of your upper management has ever heard of ISO 25999? That's going to get both interesting and costly.

      1. richardcox13
        Headmaster

        Re: We are on high holborn :- currently looking like we will be down another day

        >f ISO 25999?

        What's that?

        Or are you mixing (now withdrawn) BS 25999 and (its replacement) ISO 22313?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: We are on high holborn :- currently looking like we will be down another day

          Absolutely. Serves me right trying to use the Innertubes whilst high on a heady mix of flu medication and strong coffee.

  2. kaiserb_uk

    Verizon MPLS

    Verizon MPLS connections affected, we've lost two sites in Luton and Portsmouth...

  3. x 7

    Assuming the fire IS in the Ciitadel, and assuming that access hasn't changed since the SubBrit report, then getting into the tunnels is going to be interesting. The tunnels are 100 feet deep. The only open access was a lift shaft at Furnival St. No-one is going to want to use that. Stair access at Chancery Lane station was sealed off a long time ago, while the stair access at 31-35 High Holborn (the original Chancery Lane station building) was blocked more recently.

    I can't see anyone allowing the tunnels in the current station reopened. So the only foot access is likely to be through 31-35 High Holborn IF the stairwells can be reopened. It may be preferable to drill a new shaft instead.

    Whatever happens, the tunnels will need inspection to see if any damage threatens the buildings above.

    And an afterthought - when the "sister" site in Manchester - the Guardian citadel - went up in flames ten years ago the authorities were very loathe to admit the facts. Expect the same here -there is still a strong aura of secrecy about these citadel sites, even though they are redundant. At Manchester the press reports spoke of a "cable duct" catching fire, when in fact the whole site went up. I recognise the same kind of reporting here, with the BBC reporting a "cable duct" on fire.

    1. hplasm
      Black Helicopters

      "...there is still a strong aura of secrecy about these citadel sites,"

      Battle beneath The Earth...

      tell no-one.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Assuming the fire IS in the Ciitadel"

      That's a pretty big assumption. Electricity companies have their own tunnels for HV distribution around London - pylons being a little impractical. Why would anyone go out of their way to route power cables through a disused underground telephone exchange that doesn't actually go anywhere?

      1. x 7

        "That's a pretty big assumption"

        Fair comment. But looking at the various films and photos its clear something more than just an HV line is on fire. Those flames coming out of the ducts are are gas flames, presumably from a fractured gas main. And how do you account for the loss of telephones and the wider-scale internet outage? And the official statements this morning that it may take "several days" to resolve the fire? It may well be the citadel wasn't the seat of origin - but my guess is that the fire has spread to it. However, I hope I'm wrong.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "Fair comment. But looking at the various films and photos its clear something more than just an HV line is on fire"

          The fire brigade have said that the fire is the result of a gas leak which has been ignited. They can't put the fire out until the gas is turned off because that risks an explosion if unignited gas is allowed to build up.

          http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/LatestIncidentsContainer_01030482.asp#.VR0ZeOFIlfA

          The loss of Internet will be down to the cutting off of power - not all telcos back up everything with generators - and in the case of companies like Verizon and Colt it'll be because their privately owned fibres are routed through the same tunnels - there's a lot of telco cabling running through the Kingsway tram subway.

          Citadel / Kingsway was built to be impervious to external events - bombs, fires, military action - it seems pretty unlikely that an unrelated fire nearby is somehow going to leap through earth and mud and then through a cast iron tunnel wall into a different set of tunnels.

          If Citadel was on fire, Chancery Lane tube station would be closed. It's not, trains are running normally.

          1. Jellied Eel Silver badge

            Problem is back in the day, there was pretty much just the BT ducts and other utilities. Now the area is a major cable jungle with multiple ducts with mutiple paths for gas/fire to travel. There are power tunnels, sewer tunnels, ducts connecting buildings. There are cable chambers connected to other provider's duct networks. Those *should* have gas stops, but if they don't then gas or fire can travel around easily.

            So there'll be a lot of field engineers looking for fibre routes around the location to bypass damaged sections and restore services, then a lot of work to replace any damaged sections once the area's declared safe.

  4. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    FAIL

    Famous Last Words

    We need to cut maintenance costs, so we might as well seal that entrance - We're never going to need it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Famous Last Words

      "We need to cut maintenance costs, so we might as well seal that entrance - We're never going to need it."

      Not before I get my megabonus for costcutting anyway. And when the sh1t does hit the fan I'll be long gone, wreaking similar havoc on some other unlucky outfit who won't have seen my track record.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fire still going

    Both of our office networks were taken out yesterday (chancery lane) by this so most of the company is working over VPN today. Office still had power last time we checked.

    One of the fires was put out pronto but apparently a second one is still ongoing and they suspect it may be being fuelled by a broken gas main. As such carbon monoxide levels in the tunnels are at crazy lethal levels and BT are apparently unable to re-route as a result.

    So given the extensive fire damage I suspect networks in the area will be down for considerably longer than 24hrs and TBH I'd be surprised if there was any before monday...

  6. kidtrebor

    Short power outage here on Pall Mall over-night, looks like it kicked in around 9pm.

  7. Winston1984

    It's just a small utility subway

    The tunnel involved in this hiatus appears to be neither that of the old Kingsway telephone exchange, which is located underneath Chancery Lane tube station, nor the Kingsway tramway tunnel, which runs under the middle of the road. It looks as though it's one of the pipe subways built by the London County Council in a few streets between 1861 and 1933 to carry gas and water pipes. Since then other utilities' pipes and cables have been added. AIUI they're big enough to walk through, but only just, and are at shallow with about 3 feet of cover.

    1. x 7

      Re: It's just a small utility subway

      I've just found an interesting report on the SubBrit site re the service tunnels, written in the 1890's. Also some photos - its clear that these are in places quite large and cover quite an area

      http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/l/london_sewers/index.shtml

      |The article also describes part of the sewer network

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. x 7

        Re: It's just a small utility subway

        this has a map of the service tunnels

        second attempt at posting as the original link got truncated

        http://bit.ly/1I8aO6N

  8. Tech Flack

    Our office lost power, which has been restored, all connectivity to our building, a Workspace shared office, is down. No timescale for a fix beyond that it will not be today. The Three mobile network I was teathered to winked out of existence early afternoon, so there still seems to be ongoing additional damage. Three expect a fix by Tuesday 7th.

  9. KBeee
    Happy

    Every cloud has a silver lining

    http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/everyone-a-winner-in-holborn-fire-2015040297026

  10. Alastair Booker

    Looks like this has affected Verizon pretty badly.

  11. Alan Brown Silver badge

    I've been wondering

    When something like this would happen.

    Central London's been running on overload for years and the undermaintained infrastructure blowing up more and more regularly as a result. It's like that scenario in Brazil min us trying to blame it on terrorists.

    For an idea of how bad it can get, lookup the big Auckland nz power outage. Power was out to the central city there for 6 weeks...

  12. 4ecks
    Flame

    teh interwebs is borken

    The "Magic Blue Smoke" leaked out in a big way.

  13. x 7

    We can make more - see http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Blue_smoke

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