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24
The first day—Friday, December 5th—was an urban (or
smoke) fog, but on subsequent days a water fog formed which
spread to rural areas.
The fog was dense in Ealing throughout this period although
some parts of Central London were worse affected.
The effect of four days' emission of smoke from London's
chimneys and exhausts of vehicles was to increase the amount of
smoke pollution to 14 times the average.
At the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square the filters of the
air conditioning plant trapped 26 times as much dirt as usual
during the day and in one peak period of four hours, 54 times
normal.
It is usual to find an increase in the number of deaths from
bronchitis, pneumonia and heart disease during a severe fog, and
indeed this was strikingly shown.
In Ealing there were 45 deaths from bronchitis, pneumonia
and other respiratory diseases in the two weeks ending December
20th as compared to 210 in the remaining 50 weeks of the year,
i.e., 5 times the normal rate and 6 times the number recorded in
the corresponding weeks of 1951.
Deaths from all causes in the week ending December 15th in
Greater London totalled 4,703—this was 3 times the number recorded
in the week ending November 15th, i.e., 1865. The number
of deaths due to bronchitis and pneumonia increased by 12 times,
i.e., from 74 to 872. The increase mainly affected those over the
age of 45.
It would thus appear likely that the fog was responsible for
the loss of some 3,000 lives and as such must be accounted a. major
disaster ; one which must not be allowed to recur.
The majority of persons who experienced the fog suffered
from symptoms such as rawness in the throat, choking, smarting
eyes and cough. In London and Middlesex the number of
new claims for sickness benefit rose to 28,900 during the fog as
compared to 16,300 in the subsequent week.
When one considers the effects of the fog on domestic animals,
plants, buildings, furnishings, dislocation of transport and increased
road accidents the total cost to the community cannot fall far short
of £10,000,000.
A Governmental Committee has been set up to investigate the
causes of the fog and possible methods of prevention.
In certain cities such as Manchester smokeless zones have
been set up, and long term investigations are being carried out
into the use of smokeless fuel and design of heating appliances.