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Isn't it time to give extinguishing systems in tunnels a real chance?

  • 22 November 2023
  • Harm Straathof
wordt het geen tijd om blussystemen in tunnels een reele kans te geven

Our tunnels have been constantly in the news lately. Fire reporting procedures are being adjusted and at the end of March a fire in the technical area of the Schiphol tunnel caused traffic disruption for several days. It now even appears that the concrete may be less resistant to fire than previously thought. Is it high time to give the option of extinguishing systems in tunnels a real chance?

At the end of June an article on this subject appeared in the AD (article). It concerned the discussion about whether or not to use an extinguishing system in the Leidsche Rijn Tunnel. This safety question has been around since the end of 2005. What to do if things go wrong? Water mist system or not? The fire brigade recommends a water mist system, but the risk is considered acceptable.

Despite this statement, this subject was again discussed in 2008, this time by a new mayor and fire chief. The same observations are made again and again the position "no extinguishing system" is maintained.

While the proponents of a water mist system want to convince the various stakeholders with good and substantiated arguments, the opponents come up with various assumptions about possible diversion routes after a disaster, overestimated purchase and maintenance costs and the claim that the operation of a water mist system has not been proven. .

The last statement in particular is one that is completely out of the blue. This would almost insinuate that the choice for a water mist system in a tunnel, which is made in the surrounding countries, was made without any substantiation of the operation of the system. Fortunately, a significant number of tests have shown that these systems actually work and that a large truck fire in a road tunnel can easily be controlled with a water mist system.

ARGUMENTS

It therefore appears that various incorrect arguments are used to arrive at the final decision that there is no need for an extinguishing system in a tunnel.

In the current concrete discussion, people are talking about an alternative application: additional heat-resistant cladding in the tunnel. I believe that we should broaden this a bit and look at integrated fire protection solutions. The well-known BIO measures: architectural, installation and organizational measures. Various integrally addressed cases show that installation solutions are often more effective than architectural solutions alone. In addition, the total investment is often smaller, due to savings on architectural and/or organizational facilities.

THINKING FROM RISKS

As the market leader in water mist systems, our water mist supplier FOGTEC has a lot of experience with tunnels and has already protected many tunnels worldwide with their water mist systems. FOGTEC continuously works on improvement through research and development and participates in various project groups on tunnel safety.

Our joint conclusion: fire safety in tunnels can be done differently. Thinking in terms of risks and then implementing targeted solutions based on an integrated approach. By definition, real fire safety does not have to cost more money.

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