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46
CHAPTER EIGHT
SURVEY RESULTS
The survey was sent to the states and agencies in the United two agencies reported it to be from 1 to 2 every year (refer-
States that manage tunnels and to international tunnel agen- enced tunnels outside the United States were built as early as
cies. There are a number of U.S. states where there are no road 1967 to as recently as 2010).
tunnels; the survey was not sent to those states. Nine U.S.
agencies reported on 32 tunnels, which represent approxi-
CONSEQUENCES OF FIRE INCIDENTS
mately 60% of the U.S. agencies that were addressed by the
survey. In addition, the survey was distributed to international Nationally, 17 of 20 tunnels (85%) reported having experi-
tunnel agencies to document the best international practice. A enced minor damages without structural damage after a fire.
total of 15 agencies worldwide reported on 319 tunnels. However, there were two episodes of structural damage that
required tunnel closure for an extended period of time; New
This is a summary of the data gathered from the 15 agencies York City's Holland Tunnel and Canada's Lafontaine Tun-
that responded to the NCHRP Design Information on Fires in nel. Only 2 of 20 U.S. tunnels had minor casualties (non-fatal)
Road Tunnels (Topic 41-05) on-line questionnaire. Some of the as a result of a fire. The two casualties reported in the United
agencies reported on each of their tunnels in separate surveys. States were at the Holland Tunnel and in Eisenhower/Johnson
Most of the agencies combined multiple tunnels into a singular Memorial Tunnel. There was one major casualty reported
survey response. The nine U.S. tunnel agencies reported on the at the Lafontaine Tunnel. (No details on the nature of the
32 tunnels cited in Table 9 and the six international agencies casualties were provided.)
reported on the 287 tunnels cited in Table 10.
Not all agencies responded to every question. The actual SEVERITY OF TUNNEL FIRES
number of responses for each answer, obtained from the survey
data, can be found in Appendix C. The first part of Appendix C In the United States, in most cases the fire department was
shows national data, the second part international data. involved every time in a fire (15 of 17 responses, 90%). The
fire department was involved only occasionally with the Col-
In addition, there may be more choices made then the orado DOT's Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial Tunnel, which
has its own fire truck, and has never been involved with the
number of responders for the "please check all that apply"
Pennsylvania DOT's Stowe Tunnel, which has so far had no
questions. Therefore, the "total" percentages may not add up
fire incidents. Six of 20 respondents reported that an investi-
to 100% for these questions. Open text responses are taken
gation was performed almost every time after a fire, whereas
verbatim.
8 agencies responded that an investigation was performed
occasionally after a fire, depending on its size.
FIRE FREQUENCY IN U.S. TUNNELS
Eight tunnels reported on the estimated maximum fire
Fourteen of 29 national tunnels (48%) reported that the annual size, but only one gave an actual numerical answer. The
tunnel vehicle fire incidents number 1 to 2 every year for each Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial Tunnel (Colorado) provided
tunnel, whereas 11 of 29 tunnels (37%) reported no occur- a fire size of 1520 MW (5168 MBtu/hr). The Maryland
rence of fire. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Transportation Authority's Fort McHenry Tunnel and Bal-
was the only agency that reported having from 2 to 5 vehicle timore Harbor Tunnel reported a "single tractor trailer
fire incidents per year, which can be explained by the volume truck" fire, and five of the six California tunnels reported a
of traffic in the Holland Tunnel. "small car fire."
Ten of 19 reporting tunnels (52%) reported that the most Four tunnels reported on the longest duration of their fires,
severe vehicle fire incidents in their tunnels occurred from a with the average of 19 min. The longest fire duration reported
heavy goods truck. No tanker fires happened in these tunnels. was in the Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial Tunnel (25 min).
Outside the United States, two agencies reported annual The international data show that the fire department is
vehicle fire incidents to be less than one every year and another involved every time in the fire fighting (four of five responses).
