The Mont Blanc Tunnel is a highway tunnel between France and Italy, under the Mont Blanc mountain in the Alps. Defendants in the trial included: The exact cause of the fire is disputed. The data base used for the calculations are enclosed in Appendix 3 (collisions) and Appendix 4 (fires) respectively. When it was realized that the cubicles were offering little protection from the smoke, they began searching for the doors that led to the ventilation duct. . Mont Blanc looming over Lake Leman, in the Swiss Alps. It was a once-in-a-lifetime piece. Hence a systematic analysis of less severe, but more frequent incidents (collisions and fires) may provide a more representative picutre of real tunnel incidents. Two decades ago, 39 people died inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel in a fire so horrific it changed safety standards forever. It reduces the route from France to Turin by 50 kilometres (30 miles) and to Milan by 100km (60mi). 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. Italian firefighters finally reached the epicentre of the blaze yesterday, 48 hours later. On 24th March, 1999, a Volvo lorry travelling from France to Italy stopped and burst into flames midway through the Mont Blanc Tunnel. [6] Surveillance cameras were installed in 1978. Regardless, he followed a few other heavy trucks in. 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. , a feature on him, but I never heard back from the editor. In March 1999 a two-day fire killed 39 people and caused extensive damage to the tunnel, forcing it to close. The October 2001 fire caused 11 unnecessary fatalities. It felt like someone I had been married to for years had been cheating on me all along. Part of his job involved riding back and forth through the tunnel on his motorcycle to keep traffic flowing, dispatching tow trucks and providing motorist assistance as needed. Mont-Blanc tunnel fire: what lessons 24 years later? 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. The resulting fire and smoke generated from it led to the deaths of 39 people behind the lorry, including one firefighter, and is considered the worst road tunnel fire ever. The tunnel, linking Italy and France, was . The first thing I realized was that the story I wrote in 2003 had gone viral before going viral was really a thing. In 2016, we had Jean-Marc perform a safety review of the Port of Miami Tunnel, Mr. Hodgkins recalls. The lessons learnt are summarised in Table 3.5 of this report. Do not hesitate to send us your comments, questions and suggestions. The 1999 Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire case uses a time-line approach with discussion of events during each time period. By then tales of Tinazzis bravery had already spread far and wide. Having died trying to save another man, Tinazzi was lauded as a hero, buried with honors, and posthumously awarded Italy's Medaglia d'Oro al Valore Civile. Find Mont Blanc Tunnel stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. Large-scale generation and characterisation of fire effluents. ICYMI:WSJreporter explains why he was fired, Fdration Internationale de Motocyclisme. We learned from Mont Blanc that people dont die from the fire they die from the fumes and smoke, Mr. Hodgkins said. was the first magazine to print it, in 2003. The tunnel opened to traffic on 19 July. Remember the wind in the tunnel, pushing the smoke and heat from the fire towards France? Due to weather conditions at the time, airflow through the tunnel was from the Italian side to the French side. an Italian security guard who perished while rescuing survivors of the 1999 Mont Blanc tunnel fire. It connects the highway systems of France and Italy, and cuts an hour off transport times between Italys industrial north and the rich markets beyond the Alps. Then I discovered it wasn't true", Italian decoration "Medaglia d'Oro al Valore Civile", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pierlucio_Tinazzi&oldid=1143687156, Dying while trying to rescue survivors of the, This page was last edited on 9 March 2023, at 07:59. It was an ordinary truck with ordinary cargo: nine tons of margarine and 12 tons of flour. We shall answer you as soon as possible. However, most studies of fire toxicity have been regarding lethality, for . Halifax explosion, also called Halifax explosion of 1917 or the Great Halifax Explosion, devastating explosion on December 6, 1917, that occurred when a munitions ship blew up in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Pierlucio had turned down a promotion to. He found Maurice Lebras unconscious, and dragged him into Niche No. I spent a week seeking out his family, friends, and coworkers and imploring them to talk to me. When it was opened it was the worlds longest and deepest road tunnel. Of course now, Im embarrassed that it took me 14 years to correct the record. "Inside the vehicles, you can see skeletons and human remains but it is impossible to say how many," an Italian official said. [2] Degrave subsequently abandoned his vehicle and ran to the Italian entrance of the tunnel. [13] In 2016, the one-way ticket for a car cost 43.50 (44.20 on the Italian side). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). In Italy, he says, We have a disaster or a deadly happening involving several people every week. The magnitude of death and destruction reverberated widely. 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. 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.. The most notable fire was the 1999 Mount Blanc Tunnel, seven miles long connecting France and Italy, in which 39 persons died. The Fire in the Mont-Blanc Tunnel on 24th March, 1999 The Mont Blanc tunnel was opened on 16th July, 1965. Other vehicles travelling through the tunnel became . Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. They warned in a report that the ventilation system would be hopelessly inadequate if a serious accident happened far from a tunnel mouth. But I never really dug back into it. It reopened to car traffic in March 2002 and to trucks and buses in the following months. A MANSLAUGHTER investigation has been launched by French authorities into the horrific blaze in the Mont Blanc tunnel in which 35 died. 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. [7], The tunnel underwent extensive modernisation works in 1990, including the addition of safety features such new video surveillance cameras, 8 pressurized emergency shelters, a sprinkler system and other safety maintenance. Concerns included impaired visibility for motorists as well as reliability and maintenance costs. He was asked about the security measures that he ordered, or did not order, to be carried out. douard Balladur, former president of the French company operating the tunnel (from 1968 to 1980), and later Prime Minister of France, underwent a witness examination. 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. People think of tunnels as a hole through the ground, he said, but thats not the case anymore. The regional newspapers that reported on him in 1999 didnt have online editions; my story, posted a few years later, was the first on the web. what happens if you snitch on the cartelmont blanc tunnel fire victims names. 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. Thirty-five people died in a fire that turned a stretch of the Mont Blanc road tunnel between France and Italy into a furnace, regional authorities said yesterday. The safety shafts also have clean air flowing through them via vents. March 20, 2023 by archyde. A year after the fire, thousands of bikers gathered at the Italian portal to commemorate him. Near the fire, he came upon Maurice Lebras, a French truck driver who was unconscious. The tunnel operator, Mont Blanc Tunnel and Highway, said about 20 tractor-trailer trucks and 11 cars were destroyed in the blaze. Thirty-nine people were killed. Gilbert Degrave, the driver of the truck, received a four-month suspended sentence. Ultimately he passed away while situated within a refuge station along with an unconscious lorry driver he had attempted to save. Mont Blanc Tunnel, major Alpine automotive tunnel connecting France and Italy. Without other possibilities, they abandoned their vehicles and took refuge in two of the emergency fire cubicles (fire-door sealed small rooms set into the walls every 600 metres). ICYMI:Newspaper upgrades CEOs housing stipend to $35K a month amid buyouts. He appeared to be in his 50s at the time of the fire, so its not certain hes still alive. Pierlucio Tinazzi, the biker nicknamed Spadino. On 24 March 1999 a dramatic fire occurred in the Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy. However, burning fuel flowed down the road surface, causing tyres and fuel tanks to explode and sending deadly shrapnel in the air, thus spreading fire to other vehicles. 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. Except for his uniform and motorcycle, he was entirely inconspicuous. The project is located in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and Courmayeur, Valle d'Aosta, Italy. Chapter 3 "Lessons learned from recent fires". In the aftermath, major changes were made to the tunnel to improve its safety. The judicial inquiry is expected to concentrate on the safety standards of the 34-year- old single-bore tunnel - especially the absence of an escape tunnel and the adequacy of the ventilation system. Resistance to sprinklers in the name of safety has been a recurring theme. Updates? The tunnel passes almost exactly under the summit of the Aiguille du Midi. A few minutes after Mr. Tinazzi rode in, two trucks from the Chamonix Fire Department arrived carrying 14 firefighters. When I pressed him, he fell silent for a moment before saying, My advice is, dont become preoccupied with some accounting of lives saved versus lives lost.. Mr. Connell served as chairman of the associations technical committee on tunnel safety from 2005 until 2015. [1] The event expanded into a catastrophe which cost the lives of 39 people. One account reported it to be a cigarette stub carelessly thrown at the truck, which supposedly entered the engine induction snorkel above the cabin, setting the paper air filter on fire. There were no casualties. Shortly after, the driver realized something was wrong as cars coming in the opposite direction flashed their headlights at him; a glance in his mirrors showed white smoke coming out from under his cabin. The tragic fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel of 24 March 1999, with 39 victims, and the subsequent fires in the Tauern (May 1999) and in the Gotthard (October 2001 . Called the Mont Blanc Vehicular Tunnel, the stretch opened 12 years later. By. The French company ATMB and the Italian company SITMB each independently manage and control one half of the tunnel. I thought about the tunnel story on and off, usually around the anniversary of the fire. I had drawn on the contemporaneous newspaper accounts in Val dAosta and Chamonix for my story. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. A trial has opened in France to establish responsibility for a fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel which killed 39 people almost six years ago. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. In the days after the fire, regional newspapers credited Tinazzi with rescuing ten people. A sprawling courtroom drama which will apportion blame for the 39 deaths in the Mont Blanc tunnel fire in March 1999, began yesterday in a converted theatre in the Alps. The Mont Blanc Tunnel links Chamonix (France) to Courmayeur in the Aosta Valley (Italy). An honor guard filled the tiny cemetery where he was buried. The Italian government presented his family with the Medaglia doro al valor civile, a heavy, beautiful medal that is one of the countrys highest honors for civilian bravery. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? But the one thing everyone agreed on was that Spadino loved motorcycles. The initial journey through the tunnel was routine. Mont Blanc Tunnel, major Alpine automotive tunnel connecting France and Italy. The next thing I realized was that information denied to me in 2003 had come out at trial in France in 2005. Le tunnel des Tauern a t ouvert en 1975, celui du St. Gothard en 1980. ChamonixCourmayeur11.68.6 Eight drivers, including the driver of the Belgian truck thought to have caused the accident, are known to have escaped before the fire reached its height. The US magazine, ran an abridged version the next year. I wonder if he ever realized his mistake, or tried to correct the record. On 24th March, 1999, the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire occurred, with Tinazzi riding into the tunnel in an attempt to save lives on the French side. I was not alone in making Spadino a hero. 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. Unfortunately, he failed to return from his final visit into the tunnel and himself became a victim of the tragic inferno. Forty-one people died in the March 24 fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel connecting France with Italy, which burned for two days. [5] This was preceded by the signing of a national charter for the tunnel construction, ratified by the parliaments of France (1957) and Italy (1954). He never quite got there. [7] The closest smoke detector was out of order, and French emergency services did not use the same radio frequency as those inside the tunnel. This had forced Italian firefighters to retreat, and they rescued 12 people from Italian side. An emblem for human courage in the face of adversity, and an inspiration for motorcyclists like me, that swept the world in its small way. An Italian or French-language search for the heros name, yielded posts that were a lot more circumspect when it came to describing Tinazzis actions that day. (I could not immediately reach him for this story. I fell asleep that night increasingly certain that I had gotten. Four years later, in 2003, I was living in France. No one could survive downwind, but a small Italian crew was able to get quite close to the fire from the other side. As the trucks cargo burned, it produced dense, toxic smoke that billowed back towards France. [Read the original Times coverage of the 1999 fire at the Mont Blanc Tunnel.]. Within a minute or two, it caught fire. Opening ceremony at Chamonix, France, of the seven mile tunnel under Mont Blanc on July 16, 1965 . I traveled to Val dAosta on my own dime to write a story that I eventually came to call Searching for Spadino.. In the Mont-Blanc fire in March 1999, the asphalt road . Other vehicles traveling through the tunnel quickly became trapped and they also caught fire as firefighters were unable to reach the transport truck. . Also known as: Mont Blanc Vehicular Tunnel, Mount Blanc Tunnel. After analyzing the records, he noticed something unusual. It fulfilled a 150-year-old dream and is of great economic importance, providing a significantly shortened year-round automotive route between the two countries. Protesters, citing environmental and safety concerns, opposed the tunnels reopening, especially its use by heavy trucks. The Mont Blanc tunnel fire March 1999 killed 39 persons, of which most died within 15 min due to intoxication. [2] He was also given a special gold medal by the motorcycle sport governing body Fdration Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Pierlucio Tinazzi was employed as a security guard to patrol the tunnel by motorcycle to ensure a steady flow of traffic. This phase is the terminal phase of victims as a result of the fire. by red crosses) or closing of the tunnel (by traffic lights), are often neglected if not enforced by additional means (eg. the legal notices related to the use of my personal data. It was immediately obvious, as I began to read, that Spadino couldnt have saved anyone. I had seen so much to relate to in Spadino who was, like me, a biker and (at that point in my life) very lonely. 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. So you can imagine why newspapers and magazines are not interested in revising [the] account.. Temperatures soared to 1,000C. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. The lessons of the tragedy have guided tunnel design and engineering ever since, including recent American projects like the Port of Miami Tunnel and Seattles new S.R. Other vehicles traveling through the tunnel became trapped and firefighters were unable to reach the transport truck. Moreover, this report presents updated statistical data on tunnel collisions (Chapter 3) and fires (Chapter 4) for many countries. 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. The narrow tunnel turned into a furnace. The Volvo trundled in, on its way to Italy. The US magazine Rider ran an abridged version the next year. Nearly 2,000 people died and some 9,000 were injured in the disaster, which flattened more than 1 square mile (2.5 square km) of the city of Halifax. Mont Blanc Tunnel is a tunnel and road tunnel that was built from 1957 until 1965. 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. The Mont Blanc Tunnel opened to traffic in 1965. The agreement between France and Italy on building a tunnel was signed in 1949. The toxic effects of the fire product are important in the second and third phase. Tunnel du Mont Blanc - Tempratures atteintes dans la chausse et comportement au feu de la chausse, Document Some had been upgraded in the thirty-four years since construction of the Mont Blanc Tunnel to survive for four hours. Le tunnel du Mont-Blanc tait en son temps le plus long tunnel routier au monde. I tell people, This is like a building for cars.. 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. The last people to safely escape the tunnel in the direction of France told the investigators they thought he was trying to catch up to the burning truck. . 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. These fumes quickly filled the tunnel and restricted oxygen, disabling vehicles including fire engines which, once affected, had to be abandoned by the firefighters. Not your archetypal biker. 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. Tunnel Inferno is the 2nd episode of Seconds from Disaster and explores the causes of one of the worst tunnel fires. [3], For several years, Tinazzi was also wrongly credited by newspapers with saving between ten and twelve people by ferrying them to safety on his motorcycle before dying in the fire. That was a small mercy. He tells me, That legend had been woven by the Italian media before anyone knew exactly what had really happened. I would never have traveled to Val dAosta in search of the heros backstory. Before they even reached the burning truck, they found themselves in a desperate fight for their own survival. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Get up to 10% off using the Booking.com app, 50 off over 650 using this Expedia discount code, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected product with this eBay voucher code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK May 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this May, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. [5] In 1962, the French and Italian drilling teams met on 4 August. 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 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. To this day, no one can say with certainty why the rig caught fire. It had been open nearly 35 years without a single fatal incident until the morning of March 24, 1999. I started looking into it online. [2] Some victims were able to escape to the fire cubicles. It held that title. I looked again at the citation for the FIM medal. In 2003, with what felt like an angel on my shoulder, I wrote a story that became a myth. Over the next 35 years of uneventful service, those superlatives were taken for granted. 10-trip package: 163.30; Valid for 2 years in addition to the validation month. French police announced last night that as many as 40 trucks . It gives me comfort that my portrait of Spadino was accurate, even if my account of what he did during the fire was not. A strong breeze created a blast-furnace effect, igniting the fuel in other abandoned vehicles. Members of a direct response crew in the firefighter hangar on the French side. The interviews I conducted with his sister and a few close friends were heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. 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. In hindsight I should have wondered why none of them included photos, names, or quotes from the people hed saved. After a long chat over Skype on technical topics, I asked whether he could confirm Tinazzis actions. At 11:10 six Chamonix firefighters entered the tunnel, but were blocked at the garage 17, 2700 meters from the truck. TV documentaries were also made concerning the disaster, all distributed worldwide and focusing on either safety aspects or the circumstances that turned what should have been a serious, but controllable incident into a disaster. Of the initial fifty people trapped by the fire, twelve survived, all of them from the Italian side. In 1997, a fire detection system was installed along with centralized safety equipment management, and new variable message signs.
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