stages as well, which would start this effect off of the trench effect. >> the escalator trench acted as a chimney, made not of brick, but of highly flammable wood. at 7:45, a torrent of superheated gas rushed up the escalator, priming everything in its path to burn. >> the sudden movement of the fire up the escalator was called the flashover. it burst into the booking hall at the top. >> the hot gases and flames exploded into the ticket hall, feeding off years of thick paint on the walls and 3 tons of varnished wood on the escalator below. the cavernous room was a death trap. >> those people would have died extremely quickly. and if there's anything, if there's any comfort there, it is the comfort that they didn't suffer for very, very long at all. >> the government's board of inquiry accepted the new science of the trench effect and found