Operating conditions of fire brigades in tunnel fires

Published: 19 April, 2010

Fire-fighting and rescue in tunnels is significantly more demanding for fire brigades than building fires. This results in particular from the fact that the available area of heat exhaust openings is much smaller, leading to exceptionally high temperatures even in longer distances from the fire source.

Access routes in tunnels are generally longer - this has to be considered to adapt the tactics of the fire brigade. Very long access routes together with bad visibility require emergency crews to have special knowledge and experience on the risk parameters visibility, wind, temperature and oxygen content in tunnel fires. Tunnel fires occur much less frequent than building fires. Hence action forces (especially volunteer fire brigades) have generally less experience with tunnel fires. This could lead to dangerous misconceptions.

File: 508-511_Operating Conditions.pdf (1354k)

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