Preparing for tunnel fires

摘要

Fires in tunnels differ from residential fires in one major way: the long distances which have to be overcome by people fleeing the scene and firefighters attending it. In tunnels, distances of 100 m or more normally have to be covered to reach either a safe area or the fire ground. Consequently all operations for firefighters take longer and one goal of pre-incident preparation is to compensate for the additional time taken. Since 2001 an appropriate firefighting procedure has been developed by a team of specialists from the International Fire Academy working with fire services from all over Europe. Training started in 2009 at the specially developed tunnel training facility in Switzerland. A range of training coures are offered in English, French, German and Italian languages.