by red crosses) or closing of the tunnel (by traffic lights), are often neglected if not enforced by additional means (eg. The International Motorcycle Federation, the world governing body of motorcycle sport, presented its highest award to his family. All the vehicles destroyed appear to have been trapped in the inferno that followed, estimated by officials to have reached a temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius. By. At one point, I mentioned that wed never had a fire, and he banged his hand on the table and said, Yet!. [3] Authorities compounded the chimney effect by pumping in further fresh air from the Italian side, escalating the fire whist trapping toxic fumes inside. Of course now, Im embarrassed that it took me 14 years to correct the record. They saved several people, ferrying them out to the Italian portal. Learn how and when to remove these template messages, personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay, Learn how and when to remove this template message, French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau, "The Fire of 1999 - Autoroutes et Tunnel du Mont Blanc", "Case Studies: Historical Fires: Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire, Italy/France", "Infrastructural Fires: Mont Blanc Tunnel, Italy", "Land transport accident investigation bureau (BEA-TT)", "Guilty Verdicts in Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire Trial", "Procs du Mont-Blanc: Grard Roncoli condamn en appel 6 mois de prison ferme", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mont_Blanc_Tunnel_fire&oldid=1150665494, Gilbert Degrave, the Belgian driver of the truck that caught fire in the tunnel, The French and Italian managers of the tunnel, A senior official of the French Ministry of Public Works. [Read the original Times coverage of the 1999 fire at the Mont Blanc Tunnel.]. It links Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France with Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy, via the French Route Nationale 205 and the Italian Traforo T1, in particular the motorways serving Geneva and Turin. Their trucks stuck now, the firefighters retreated into two refuges. The fire burned for 50 hours. It passes almost directly under Europes highest peak. Before Mont Blanc, tunnel engineers were divided on the benefit of sprinkler systems. ChamonixCourmayeur11.68.6 I went to the tunnel control center, and to the local Carabinieri post, where I spoke to managers and cops who must have known that the accounts published in 1999 were exaggerated. This can be achieved by the provision of safe design criteria for new tunnels, as well as effective management and possible upgrading of in-service tunnels, and through improved information and better communications with tunnel users. In fact, hed been offered a job in the tunnel control room, but had declined because he preferred to ride. Twenty years ago, Pierlucio "Spadino" Tinazzi was a security guard who patrolled the Mont Blanc tunnel in the Alps by motorcycle, in order to ensure a steady flow of traffic. 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 50-50 shares distribution. It is 11.7 km (7.3 miles) long and crosses under the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc. 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". Le tunnel du St. Gothard est le plus long (16 920 m), suivi par le tunnel du Mont Blanc et le tunnel des Tauern (11 600 m et 6 400 m respectivement). A year after the fire, thousands of bikers gathered at the Italian portal to commemorate him. Spadino might have seen something, or heard something from one of the drivers exiting the tunnel, that made him suspect that a truck was in trouble. The agreement between France and Italy on building a tunnel was signed in 1949. I would never have traveled to Val dAosta in search of the heros backstory. It is 11.7 km (7.3 miles) long and crosses under the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc. A strong breeze created a blast-furnace effect, igniting the fuel in other abandoned vehicles. While the legend of the biker was exaggerated, the horror of the fire there 20 years ago and its impact on tunnel safety cannot be overstated.CreditSamuel Zeller for The New York Times. Mont Blanc Tunnel, major Alpine automotive tunnel connecting France and Italy. Victims 11 deaths 5 deaths 155 deaths 12 deaths 39 deaths 5 deaths 2 injured Vehicles damaged 10 cars 23 lorries . Thirty-nine people were killed. and the presence of over 400 people in . March 24, 1999, 10:54 a.m.: a Belgian truck driver rushes into the Mont-Blanc tunnel, but very quickly, cars flash his headlights. Before they even reached the burning truck, they found themselves in a desperate fight for their own survival. Since then, Mr. Berthier has become a global evangelist for tunnel fire safety. Its citation, like those early newspaper reports, credited Mr. Tinazzi with saving several people, even though the legend of the biker-hero had been woven by the Italian media before anyone knew exactly what had really happened, said Antoine Chandellier, a French journalist who has reported on the region for decades. 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]. When he climbed out of the cab, flames burst from under the truck, and he leapt back. [11] 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. Pierlucio had turned down a promotion to. The lessons learnt are summarised in Table 3.5 of this report. Three companies were fined up to US$180,000 each. 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. Spadino Pierlucio Tinazzi, who got his nickname, Italian for a thin, light sword, when he was young was just outside the French portal on his motorcycle. Nothing in the official record suggests his motivation. After the Mont Blanc report highlighted the French and Italian operators lack of preparedness, the committee made formal emergency response plans and regular training exercises part of the standard. He looks in his rear view mirror: his cargo of margarine and flour has caught fire. "Inside the vehicles, you can see skeletons and human remains but it is impossible to say how many," an Italian official said. Searching for Spadino. That always made my day. 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. This motorcycle, scooter or moped-related article is a stub. We have 44 jet fans that can operate in either direction, so we can suck air away from the fire, so toxins dont affect people in the tunnel.. In most of these, human negligence is somehow involved. This was not yet considered a fire emergency. . We shall answer you as soon as possible. A detailed description of the Mont Blanc, Tauern and St. Gotthard fires including the original configuration of the tunnels, and a step-by-step guide to the incident, fire progression, and the behaviour of operators, emergency services and users, as well as the lessons to be drawn can be foundinthe technical report 05.16B Systems and equipment for fire and smoke control in road tunnels. Witnesses reported that the fire had very quickly become too intense to drive past. In death, hed become an unofficial patron saint of Italian bikers. Forty-one people died in the March 24 fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel connecting France with Italy, which burned for two days. Refuges equipped with telephones, and capable of sheltering up to 40 people were excavated every 600 metres in 1991. Moments later, the fire melted the wiring for the lights, plunging the tunnel into darkness. Between 10:53 and 10:57, the smoke had already covered half a kilometre of the French side. In school, his classmates called him Spadino the Italian word for rapier because hed been such a skinny kid. I thought about the tunnel story on and off, usually around the anniversary of the fire. The fire burned for fifty-three hours and was estimated to have reached a temperature of 1,000C (1,830F), mainly because of the margarine load in the trailer, equivalent to a 23,000-litre (5,100impgal; 6,100USgal) oil tanker. They retreated into two fire refuges, small rooms with a dedicated air supply carved into the side of the tunnel every few hundred feet, and closed the fire doors. The passageway is not horizontal, but in a slightly inverted "V", which assists ventilation. The Italian company [that administered that end of the tunnel] also wanted an Italian hero, because they knew that as legal responsibility for the disaster was assigned, they were in opposition to the French company.. Emergency shelter No. [10] The reopening followed an extensive overhaul of the safety features. I spent a week seeking out his family, friends, and coworkers and imploring them to talk to me. Reporters described him making four trips into the tunnel, ferrying people out on his motorcycle. A MANSLAUGHTER investigation has been launched by French authorities into the horrific blaze in the Mont Blanc tunnel in which 35 died. Introduction. The likelihood of escalation of incidents into major events is low, however the consequences of such incidents can be severe in terms of victims, damage to the structure and impact on the transport economy. The Italian company responsible for operating the tunnel, SITMB, paid 13.5 million ($17.5 million US) to a fund for the families of the victims. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}455358N 65151E / 45.8995N 6.8642E / 45.8995; 6.8642. The French company ATMB and the Italian company SITMB each independently manage and control one half of the tunnel. He was asked about the security measures that he ordered, or did not order, to be carried out. Nicholas Borghi is a skier, heading from his home in Italy to ski resorts in France. He was Italian, but as it happened, he entered the tunnel from the French side. But interest in the story really took off in April 2006 when it appeared in the UK monthly. However, characteristic events are fortunately rare, and may be limited to specific circumstances. I contacted Paolo Sormani, an experienced Italian motorcycle writer, and asked him to help with that accounting. Paolo wrote back, rather brusquely I thought, saying that he had no interest in reopening the Spadino story. 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. Webcams Account verification Call for Bids. Omissions? Road traffic grew steadily until 1994, even with the opening of the Frjus tunnel. Sat Mar 27 1999 - 00:00. Create your free account to access the additional media materials and receive alerts when new contents are published. After a long chat over Skype on technical topics, I asked whether he could confirm Tinazzis actions. In less than two hours, the tunnel was reopened to traffic. Save almost 70%: 15.21 instead of 48.80 one way.
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