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.. But the one thing everyone agreed on was that Spadino loved motorcycles. 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. By. In the Mont Blanc tunnel fire in 1999, for example, over 20 lorries were destroyed, and several people lost their lives. Over the years, there have been a few occasions when complete strangers thanked me for writing. Other name(s): Tunnel du Mont-Blanc: Beginning of works: 1957: Completion: 19 July 1965: Status: in use Project Type. (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.). In the aftermath, major changes were made to the tunnel to improve its safety. After analyzing the records, he noticed something unusual. After a long chat over Skype on technical topics, I asked whether he could confirm Tinazzis actions. Pierlucio Tinazzi (1962-1999) - Find a Grave Memorial In those countries, post-trial stories acknowledged that the legend was exaggerated. The Miami tunnel is a twin-bore tunnel, with a separate passageway for traffic in each direction. The October 2001 fire caused 11 unnecessary fatalities. The memorial on the French side honoring the 39 people who died in the tunnel blaze. Reporters described him making four trips into the tunnel, ferrying people out on his motorcycle. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mont-Blanc-Tunnel, British Broadcasting Corporation - Mont Blanc tunnel. It was some time before investigators released a final, accurate account of the disaster at the Mont Blanc Tunnel: The biker, who was known by his nickname, Spadino, an Italian riff on his skinny frame, had not saved anyone. Finding any mistake in a published story is deflating. No.6 Mont Blanc Tunnel fire | New Civil Engineer I tell people, This is like a building for cars.. [5] In 1908, a first design was presented by French engineer Arnold Monod, to much interest from Italian and French politicians. The Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire. What Happened and What Has Been Learned The 1999 Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire case uses a time-line approach with discussion of events during each time period. Pierlucio Tinazzi Pierlucio Tinazzi ( Italian pronunciation: [pjrluto tinattsi]; 27 December 1962 - 24 March 1999) was an Italian security guard who died while trying to rescue victims of the 1999 Mont Blanc tunnel fire. Tinazzi was on the French side of the tunnel, from where he donned breathing equipment and drove into the tunnel on his BMW K75 motorcycle in an attempt to save people trapped in the tunnel; after finding unconscious truck driver Maurice Lebras, who was too heavy to be loaded on his motorcycle, he dragged him to a refuge station in the tunnel, where both were killed by smoke or flames. All the deceased were on the French side, and were ultimately reduced to bones and ash by the intense heat. He was Italian, but as it happened, he entered the tunnel from the French side. The Fire in the Mont-Blanc Tunnel on 24th March, 1999 The Mont Blanc tunnel was opened on 16th July, 1965. Tracy Connor. Spadino redux: What if the best story you ever wrote was wrong The heat was so intense and the fumes so thick that the first group of Italian firefighters who tried to approach the inferno were forced to retreat through the ventilation shafts. The lessons learnt are summarised in Table 3.5 of this report. In the Mont-Blanc fire in March 1999, the asphalt road . Moments later, the fire melted the wiring for the lights, plunging the tunnel into darkness. The association writes standards, not laws; its up to the local authorities to adopt them. An investigation found no evidence of a design fault with the truck. Safely tunneling the Mont Blanc - DW - 07/17/2015 To this day, no one can say with certainty why the rig caught fire. Only five United States road tunnels had been equipped with sprinklers. 39 people were killed. 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. Of course now, Im embarrassed that it took me 14 years to correct the record. Serious questions about the safety of the tunnel were raised by rescue organisations last year. tunnelmb.net Wikipedia The police deposed hundreds of witnesses and experts, studied all the security logs and video, and analyzed thousands of photos and other pieces of forensic evidence. There were no casualties. 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. It reopened to car traffic in March 2002 and to trucks and buses in the following months. Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire - Documentary - YouTube But I still wondered how so many journalists, beginning with the local papers, and ending with myself, got the facts so wrong. At 10:53, the driver of the vehicle, Gilbert Degrave, stopped 6 km into the 11.6 km tunnel, in attempt to fight the fire but he was suddenly forced back when the payload violently combusted. 38 road users and a fireman lost their lives in the . Mont Blanc Tunnel, France, Italy, and Switzerland - Building the World The told and retold story that, before finding Lebras, Spadino had exited to safety and returned over and over, rescuing 10 other people had been publicly debunked by the French judicial police in 2005. The Fdration Internationale de Motocyclisme the worldwide governing body for motorcycle sport posthumously awarded him a specially cast solid gold medal for motorcycle merit. Maybe like Italian motorcycle magazines, the newspapers quietly started telling the truth about him, without ever admitting the initial error. Regardless, he followed a few other heavy trucks in. Webcams Account verification Call for Bids. "Stay safe in road tunnels" in Europe and UK | Croner-i The agreement between France and Italy on building a tunnel was signed in 1949. 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. After a long chat over Skype on technical topics, I asked whether he could confirm Tinazzis actions. It is 11.7 km (7.3 miles) long and crosses under the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc. The Mont Blanc Tunnel was originally managed by the two building companies. FIREFIGHTER HISTORY 3/24 - Firefighter Close Calls Three companies were fined up to US$180,000 each. The magnitude of death and destruction reverberated widely. Pedestrians can cross the tunnel by bus; bicycles can also be carried through the tunnel with a reservation. Pierlucio had turned down a promotion to. [13] In 2016, the one-way ticket for a car cost 43.50 (44.20 on the Italian side). The fire resulted in million of dollars in damage, thirty-nine deaths, and a three-year closure of the tunnel. Brian Russell, the civil engineer who served as project manager on the S.R. Fires in long traffic tunnels are rare. The toxic effects of the fire product are important in the second and third phase. Shortly before 9:00 am . [1] A commemorative plaque at the Italian entrance honours his sacrifice. The director of the tunnel company, Remi Chardon, said earlier that at least 17 and up to 30 people were feared to have died. The project is located in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and Courmayeur, Valle d'Aosta, Italy. Within the tunnel, a minimum speed of 50km/h and a maximum speed of 70km/h applies, while the prescribed distance between vehicles is 150 m; trucks are allowed to enter in groups of five. Berthier talked to me about the first Memorial Spadino biker gathering. I should have questioned how Tinazzi managed to operate in the French zone, when fully kitted firemen could not. As the trucks cargo burned, it produced dense, toxic smoke that billowed back towards France. [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. We have recently seen the 18th anniversary of one of the most serious road tunnel incidents in Europe, when on 24 March 1999, in the Mont Blanc tunnel, a vehicle carrying flour and margarine was involved in a deadly fire which claimed so many lives. Within a minute or two, it caught fire. Its not clear whether he suspected trouble or thought he was making a routine trip back to the Italian portal.