London County Council
Books
- Five Days Without Sky London, 1952, and the Fog That Changed the World · Liszt Think
On December 5, 1952, an anticyclone trapped the smoke of a million coal fires over London. For five days, visibility fell to mere feet.
- The City of a Million Fires…n and night workers, by insomniacs and early risers, by the continuous human need for warmth in a cold climate. The city breathed coal. The London County Council’s public health department maintained its nightly emergency service from a basement office in Westminster. The duty officer, a medical insp…
- The High-Pressure Dome…icroscopic particles of incomplete combustion that filled the trapped air to saturation. The city’s institutions operated on precedent. The London County Council’s public health department received complaints about fog and responded with its established protocol: warnings to motorists, advice to the…
- The Pall Descends…ts heaved without effect; family members called for ambulances that could not navigate streets they themselves could barely see across. The London County Council’s hospital system activated emergency procedures developed for bombing raids: beds were cleared; staff were recalled; oxygen supplies ratio…