SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden has done a study regarding Effective Firefighting Operations in Road Tunnels. The main purpose of this study was to develop operational procedures for fire brigades in road tunnels. Although much progress has been achieved in various fields of fire safety in tunnels, very little attention has been paid specifically to firefighting in tunnels. The study has been focused on obtaining more information concerning how effectively the fire brigade can fight road tunnel fires and what limitations and threats fire brigades may be faced with. This knowledge can help parties involved in tunnel safety to understand safety issues and enhance the level of fire safety in road tunnels.
A report from the study is available. The report is divided into three main parts. The first part consists of a review of relevant studies and experiments concerning various key parameters for fire safety and emergency procedures. The history of road tunnel fires is then summarized and analyzed. Among all road tunnel fires, three catastrophic tunnel fires are highlighted, focusing on the activities of firefighters and the operation of technical fire safety facilities. In the second part specific firefighting operations are developed. This has been based on previous experience and new findings from experiments performed in the study. In the last part, information is given on how the proposed firefighting operations can be applied to the management of fire safety for road tunnels. Two proposals are developed and presented: fire scenarios for fire fighting strategies and tunnel classification models for risk management for fire brigades.
The report can be downloaded here: http://www-v2.sp.se/publ/ViewDocument.aspx?RapportId=10965
