The trench effect is a combination of circumstances that can rush a fire up an inclined surface.

Investigation and research of the fire resulted in the discovery of the trench effect.

The trench effect occurs when a fire burns beside a steeply-inclined surface.

The trench effect became known because of the scientific investigation of the King's Cross fire.

The trench effect and eruptive wildfires: lessons from the King's Cross Underground disaster.

An episode of TV series Extreme Evidence entitled "Flashover" detailed the King's Cross fire, along with the computer modeling and other analyses which discovered the trench effect.

The subsequent public inquiry determined that the fire had started due to a lit match being dropped onto the escalator and suddenly increased in intensity due to a previously unknown trench effect.

The cause was attributed to a lit match falling into, and setting fire to, an escalator machine room, combined with a then-unknown fire phenomenon of the trench effect, which caused the fire to explode into the station, killing 31 people.

The HSE's Health and Safety Laboratory in Buxton lit fires in 1/10-scale and 1/3 scale models of the escalator and ticket hall to prove that the trench effect was the main cause of the King's Cross fire.