Eurotunnel safety recommendations following earlier fires not implemented

The fire engulfing the Eurotunnel late last week could have resulted in significantly less damage if the tunnel operator had introduced safety recommendations that were made after previous fires, according to engineering experts and fire fighters who responded to the recent incident.|

Last Thursday’s inferno started on a freight train. It burned for 17 hours before fire fighting teams from France and England were able to extinguish it. In addition to causing damage estimated at millions of pounds, it has also led to major delays and disruptions in freight and passengers services that are expected to last for weeks if not months.

After a tunnel fire in 1996, Eurotunnel’s operator was warned that changes needed to be made in regulations regarding rolling stock, according to the Fire Brigades Union (FBU). That particular fire resulted in the closing of the tunnel to freight services for seven months and caused £200 million in damages.

The general secretary for the FBU, south-east, Jim Parrott, said in comments to the New Civil Engineer magazine: “Our main concern was open-sided wagons. We wanted closed trucks that would contain fire … In a closed wagon, you would take people away from their vehicles and, if a fire is detected, you could then fill a truck with either an inert gas or compressed air foam, both of which are very efficient at putting out fires.”

New Civil Engineer also reported that experts on concrete tunnel safety told the Eurotunnel operator, prior to the fire in 1996, that the concrete lining of the tunnel would not be able to withstand the high temperatures generated during a major fire. Last week’s tunnel fire reached temperatures of 1000 degrees Celsius.

A spokesperson from Eurotunnel said that “Eurotunnel safety standards are set and monitored by the safety authority which advises the Inter Governmental Commission.”  The IGC comprises of officials from both France and the UK.

www.eurotunnel.com