Fourteen firefighters on two trucks from the ski resort of Chamonix reached the French portal in minutes. 20 another refuge and closed the fire door, which guaranteed safety from a fire for four hours. All the deceased were on the French side, and were ultimately reduced to bones and ash by the intense heat. According to the National Geographic documentary programme Seconds from Disaster, the fire and smoke appeared at around 10:49. The central ventilation hangar on the Italian side helps control the air in the tunnel. Theyd already made several annual pilgrimages to the tunnel in his honor. The Italian side of the Mont Blanc Tunnel. That was a small mercy. A cargo truck carrying flour and margarine caught fire while passing through the tunnel and when the driver stopped . At 11:10 six Chamonix firefighters entered the tunnel, but were blocked at the garage 17, 2700 meters from the truck. The Mont Blanc tunnel fire March 1999 killed 39 persons, of which most died within 15 min due to intoxication. However, the idea did not receive widespread attention until 1907, when Francesco Farinet, a Member of Parliament of the Aosta Valley, advocated constructing of the tunnel. At this spot, it lies 2,480 metres (8,140ft) beneath the surface, making it the world's second deepest operational tunnel[3] after the Gotthard Base Tunnel. I was not alone in making Spadino a hero. In those countries, post-trial stories acknowledged that the legend was exaggerated. The next thing I realized was that information denied to me in 2003 had come out at trial in France in 2005. "Inside the vehicles, you can see skeletons and human remains but it is impossible to say how many," an Italian official said. Moments later, the fire melted the wiring for the lights, plunging the tunnel into darkness. Mr. Connell served as chairman of the associations technical committee on tunnel safety from 2005 until 2015. The experience gained from the investigation into the fire was one of the principal factors that led to the creation of the French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau.[5]. The report revealed that Tinazzi was outside the tunnel, at the French portal, when the Belgian truck entered; Id been right about that much. I got caught on the phrase entered the smoke-filled tunnel from the Italian side, because I knew Tinazzi wasnt on the Italian side. Ten tried to escape on foot, but it was too far to fresh air, and they couldnt outrun the toxic fumes. Conclusions drawn from the enquiry following the Mont Blanc tunnel fire were that fatal consequences could be greatly reduced by: After the fire of March 24th 1999, the Mont Blanc tunnel required significant renovation before it was able to be reopened to traffic. THE 2001 GOTTHARD ROAD TUNNEL FIRE With its single tube of 17 km in length, roughly 7 million vehicles per year and an average of 4,000 trucks each working day, the Gotthard road tunnel is undoubtedly overstressed. Many drivers near the blaze who attempted to leave their cars and seek refuge points were quickly overcome due to toxic components of the smoke, mainly hydrogen cyanide. [1] Tinazzi was in radio contact with the Italian side for over an hour before succumbing to the intense heat, which caused his motorcycle to melt into the pavement. Emergency shelter No. They warned in a report that the ventilation system would be hopelessly inadequate if a serious accident happened far from a tunnel mouth. The driver of the goods vehicle was one of those prosecuted. Application. Outside, in the tunnel, Tinazzis motorcycle melted into the roadbed. If I Googled Pierlucio Tinazzi with my language preference set to English, the top results linked to my story or follow-up pieces by others. (It changed tunnel engineering and safety standards around the world, and is still top of mind for civil engineers working on huge tunnel infrastructure projects like the recently opened SR 99 tunnel in Seattle.). Mont-Blanc tunnel fire: what lessons 24 years later? Other vehicles traveling through the tunnel became trapped and firefighters were unable to reach the transport truck. Paolo Sormani, the motorcycle writer who had initially been reticent, seemed to have a change of heart a few days later, when he wrote back in Italian-accented English to explain. As I write this, Ive spent the last week going back over 76 pages of handwritten notes I made on that trip. The blaze was traumatic for the close-knit Alpine communities of the French Haute-Savoie region and Val dAosta in Italy. Of the initial fifty people trapped by the fire, twelve survived, all of them from the Italian side. The Mont Blanc Tunnel is not like any other road tunnel: at 11.6 kilometers long, it was the world's longest road tunnel when it opened for traffic on July 19, 1965. Create your free account to access the additional media materials and receive alerts when new contents are published. Seven other people, including the tunnel's Italian security chief, received suspended terms and fines. All of the firefighters were rescued five hours later by a third fire crew that responded and reached them via a ventilation duct; of the 15 firefighters who had been trapped, 14 were in serious condition and one (their commanding officer) later died in the hospital. March 20, 2023 by archyde. Victims 11 deaths 5 deaths 155 deaths 12 deaths 39 deaths 5 deaths 2 injured Vehicles damaged 10 cars 23 lorries . A reporter asked for 20 years of lottery winner data. He tells me, That legend had been woven by the Italian media before anyone knew exactly what had really happened. On that day, atmospheric conditions in the Alps created a fairly strong breeze in the tunnel. It had been open nearly 35 years without a single fatal incident until the morning of March 24, 1999. Table 2.1 "Serious fires accidents in road tunnels, Chapter 3 "Lessons learned from recent fires", Routes/Roads 324 "A comparative analysis of the Mont-Blanc, Tauern and Gotthard tunnel fires". It held that title. It began on March 24, 1999 when a Volvo FH12 semi-truck from Belgium, carrying a cargo of nine tons of margarine and 12 tons of flour, stopped to pay the toll at the French portal of the Mont Blanc Tunnel. Five tunnel fires, all in Europe, resulted in 72 deaths. These remote sites are also used as staging areas, to smooth the peaks of commercial traffic. . Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Closed-circuit television cameras were installed every few metres in 1995. the legal notices related to the use of my personal data. He found Maurice Lebras unconscious, and dragged him into Niche No. Direction Italy - France. Two decades ago, 39 people died inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel in a fire so horrific it changed safety standards forever. Please join the Patreon to keep the channel. It reopened to car traffic in March 2002 and to trucks and buses in the following months. When the reports of Tinazzis daring and tragic motorcycle rescue first reached North America, I pitched the biggest US motorcycle magazine, Cycle World, a feature on him, but I never heard back from the editor. The fire burned for 50 hours. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [1] The event expanded into a catastrophe which cost the lives of 39 people. Under the Mont Blancmountain range is a 11,6 km(around 7.2 miles) long road tunnel, connecting Francewith Italy. Although hed lived in the close-knit Val dAosta region since birth, all most people knew about him was that he loved motorcycles, and rode at every opportunity. I had drawn on the contemporaneous newspaper accounts in Val dAosta and Chamonix for my story. The safe havens were designed to protect motorists from a fire for only two hours. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. But I still wondered how so many journalists, beginning with the local papers, and ending with myself, got the facts so wrong. It would have been the story that led my obituary. In 2003, with what felt like an angel on my shoulder, I wrote a story that became a myth. These topics are also addressed systematically in thetechnical report 2016 R35 Experience with Significant Incidents in Road Tunnels. The Italians were assisted by a French motorcycle security guard named Patrick Devouassoux, who happened to be on the Italian side when the fire broke out. The Mont-Blanc Tunnel, promoter of safety at international level Mont Blanc and its valleys Territory and open air A cultural crossroads Partnerships History Unitary tunnel management Corporate structure Women and men Important projects and works Details (suppliers, calls for bids, tenders and contracts) Traffic statistics Financial data News He was just a quiet man who had tried to do the right thing in the face of an inferno. By 11:11, more Italian firefighters had come to tackle the fire. So you can imagine why newspapers and magazines are not interested in revising [the] account.. Defendants in the trial included: The exact cause of the fire is disputed. It was immediately obvious, as I began to read, that Spadino couldnt have saved anyone. Smoke from the area around the truck's cab was detected by a tunnel smoke The tunnel, opened with great fanfare in 1965, is seven miles long. Other motorists were overcome by fumes as they tried to run to safety. 20-trip package: 228.60; Valid for 2 years in addition to the validation month. French police announced last night that as many as 40 trucks . The region needed a hero, and soon after the fire, the government of Italy honored Mr. Tinazzi with a gold medal for civilian bravery. . On 24th March 1999 a transport truck caught fire while driving through the Mont Blanc tunnel between Italy and France. A spokesman for the. Abstract and Figures. The damage to the tunnel was so severe that it took almost three . The tunnel passes almost exactly under the summit of the Aiguille du Midi. . what happens if you snitch on the cartel. The major fire incidents of Mont Blanc, Tauern and St. Gotthard (1999 and 2001) led to an increased awareness of the possible impact of incidents in tunnels. Sat Mar 27 1999 - 00:00. The fire trapped around 40 vehicles in dense and poisonous smoke containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide. Following a fire in 1999 in which 39 people died, which showed how lack of coordination could hamper the safety of the tunnel, all the operations are managed by a single entity: MBT-EEIG, controlled by both ATMB and SITMB together, through a 5050 shares distribution.[4]. It was certainly selfless, but if the initial newspaper reports had been accurate, I doubt that the FIM and Italian government would have presented their medals. At the time of its construction, it was three times longer than any existing highway tunnel.[2]. Mont Blanc looming over Lake Leman, in the Swiss Alps. Anyone can read what you share. Pedestrians can cross the tunnel by bus; bicycles can also be carried through the tunnel with a reservation. The next morning, digging deeper, I uncovered a 97-page, minute-by-minute account of the fire, produced by, Le Service Rgional de Police Judiciaire de Lyon. This is exactly what happened almost at the mid- point of the tunnel - underneath western Europe's highest mountain, three and a half miles from the open air - on Wednesday morning. Only vehicles past the fire on the French side of the tunnel were trapped, while cars on the Italian side of the fire were mostly unaffected. Published Nov 24, 2019. But when they occur, they tend to burn long and hot, inflicting damage on the concrete walls that requires months of closure and costs millions of dollars in economic loss. Although several lines of vehicles can queue up at the toll station, only a limited number of vehicles per unit time is allowed to transit the tunnel to ensure a safety distance between them. The Mont Blanc Tunnel links Chamonix (France) to Courmayeur in the Aosta Valley (Italy). The memorial on the French side honoring the 39 people who died in the tunnel blaze. The system proved utterly incapable of pumping in cold air or removing the thick fumes from the burning margarine and flour and the loads of the other blazing trucks, including, it is believed, a tanker containing chlorine. The passageway is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes, particularly for Italy, which relies on this tunnel for transporting as much as one-third of its freight to northern Europe. Fires in European tunnels have clearly shown the risks and consequences of tunnel fires with large vehicles. An alternative route for road traffic between France to Italy is the Frjus Road Tunnel. tunnelmb.net Wikipedia Appendix 5 of the technical report 2016 R35 Experience with Significant Incidents in Road Tunnels provides a survey of 32 randomly selected real tunnel incidents, including a short description as well as important conclusions and improvements that could be identified for specific types of incidents or tunnel systems. This phase is the terminal phase of victims as a result of the fire. Most drivers rolled up their windows and waited for rescue. A Deadly Blaze in the Alps Made a Biker a Hero and Tunnels Safer for All, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/business/mont-blanc-tunnel-fire-anniversary-rescue.html. The association writes standards, not laws; its up to the local authorities to adopt them. [Read the original Times coverage of the 1999 fire at the Mont Blanc Tunnel.]. Its not clear whether he suspected trouble or thought he was making a routine trip back to the Italian portal. At this point, there were at least 10 cars and 18 trucks in the tunnel that had entered from the French side.
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