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'''Тунелот Мон Блан''' е патен тунел во [[Алпи]]те под планината [[Мон Блан]], кој го поврзува Шамони во Франција со Курмајер во Италија. Тунелот е еден од главните алпски патишта, особено за Италија која го користи тунелот за превоз на дури една третина од вкупниот транспорт на товар кон северна Европа. Тунелот го скратува патот од Франција до Торино за 50км, а до Милано за 100км.
Градбата на тунелот започнала во 1957, а завршила во 1965. година. Тунелот е долг 11,6км, широк 8,6м и висок 4,35м. Тунелот не е хоризонтален, туку има форма на буквата „Л“. Од француска страна, почнува на надморска висина од 1274м, а на италијанска страна на 1381м. Сообраќајот се одвива низ една галерија со по една коловозна лента во секоја насока.
* 1965: На 19. јули тунелот е отворен за сообраќај.
* 1973: Отворена е првата делница на автопатот Бланш кој минува низ тунелот.
* 1978: Поставена е мрежа од камери за надзор на секои 300м и зголемен е капацитетот на снабдувањето со свеж воздух на 900m³/s.
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* 1980: Изграден е дополнителен воздушен канал, широк 7м за да се избегне собирање на неквалитетен воздух на францускиот крај на тунелот.
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* 1990: Значајни безбедносни унапредувања: 18 прибежишта за случај на опасност распоредени на секои 600м, безбедносни запиралишта на секои 100м, систем од прскалици за гаснење на пожар, замена на видео системот, телефоните, противпожарните апарати и генераторите на струја.
1978: A network of surveillance cameras is installed every 300 meters and the total capacity of fresh air supply is increased to 900 m³/s.
* 1997: Почнат е ситемот за автоматска детекција на пожари, детекција на инциденти, променливи пораки и знаци.
1980: An additional air shaft, 7 meters in diameter, is built to avoid the build-up of foul air at the French end of the tunnel.
* 1999: На 24. март 39 луѓе загинале кога Белгиски транспортен камион кој превезувал брашно и маргарин се запалил во тунелот. Сите 12 кои се спасиле од пожарот изјавиле дека „човекот на моторот ги спасил“. Тоа бил Пиерлуцио Тинаци, чувар на тунелот, кој ги изнел преживеаните надвор од тунелот или ги сместил во безбедносните прибежишта, а потоа и самиот загинал во пожарот.
1990: Part of a multi-year modernization plan, the following work is done:
The installation of third generation video surveillance cameras with fiber-optic data transmission.
The construction of 18 pressurized emergency shelters, every 600 meters, and safety recesses every 100 meters.
The installation of a pressurized sprinkler system.
The replacement of safety features: phone terminals, fire extinguishers, power generators.
1997: The start of a fire detection system and the start of a study for automatic incident detection, centralized safety equipment management, and new variable message signs.
The 1999 fireOn March 24, 1999, 39 people died when a Belgian transport truck carrying flour and margarine caught fire in the tunnel. After several miles, 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 cab. This was not yet a fire emergency; there had been 16 other truck fires in the tunnel over the previous 35 years, always extinguished on the spot by the drivers.
At 10:53 AM CET, the driver of the vehicle, 57-year-old Gilbert Degreaves stopped in the middle of the tunnel to attempt to fight the fire but he was suddenly forced back by flames erupting from his cab.
At 10:55 AM, the tunnel employees triggered the fire alarm and stopped any further traffic from entering. At this point the tunnel was populated by at least 10 cars/vans and 18 trucks that had entered from the French side. A few vehicles from the Italian side passed the Volvo truck without stopping. Some of the cars from the French side managed to turn around in the narrow 2-lane tunnel to retreat back to France, but negotiating the road in the dense smoke that had rapidly filled the tunnel quickly made this impossible. The larger trucks didn't have the space to turn around, and reversing out wasn't an option.
Most drivers rolled up their windows and waited for rescue. The ventilation system in the tunnel drove toxic smoke back down the tunnel faster than anyone could run to safety. These fumes quickly filled the tunnel and caused vehicle engines to stall; they needed oxygen to run. Many drivers near the blaze who attempted to leave their cars and seek refuge points were quickly overcome.
Within minutes, two fire trucks from Chamonix responded to the unfolding disaster. The fire had melted the wiring and plunged the tunnel into darkness; in the smoke and with abandoned and wrecked vehicles blocking their path, the large fire engines were unable to proceed. The fire crews instead abandoned their vehicles and took refuge in two of the emergency fire cubicles (fire-door sealed small rooms set into the walls every 600 meters). As they huddled behind the fire doors, they could hear burning fuel roll down the road surface, causing tires to pop and fuel tanks to explode. They were rescued five hours later by a third fire crew that responded and reached them via a ventilation duct; of the 15 firefighters that had been trapped, 14 were in serious condition and one (their commanding officer) died in the hospital.
Some victims escaped to the fire cubicles. The original fire doors on the cubicles were rated to survive for two hours. Some had been upgraded in the 34 years since the tunnel was built to survive for four hours. However, the fire burned for 56 hours and reached temperatures of 1,000 °C (1,832°F) mainly because of the margarine load in the trailer, equivalent to a 6,000 gallon (23 000 L) oil tanker, which spread to other cargo vehicles nearby that also carried combustible loads. Slowly, everything became part of the inferno. It trapped around 40 vehicles in dense and poisonous smoke (containing carbon monoxide and cyanide). Due to the gradient of the road, the tunnel acted like a chimney sucking cold air in on one side with the intense heat and smoke leaving on the other. Authorities compounded the effect by pumping in further fresh air from the Italian side, forcing poisonous black smoke through the length of the tunnel. Only cars on the upper side of the tunnel were trapped, while cars on the other side of the fire were mostly unaffected. 27 people died in their vehicles. 10 died trying to escape on foot. Of the initial 50 people trapped by the fire, only 12 survived. It would be over five days before the tunnel cooled sufficiently for anyone to go back in, to start repairs.
Heroism
The 12 survivors all said the same thing: "That guy on the motorcycle saved my life". It was Pierlucio Tinazzi, a security guard employed by the Italian side. His job was to ride up and down the tunnel to see that everything was running smoothly. He was on the French side at the time emergency services had given up. He donned breathing equipment and rode into the tunnel on his BMW K75. He was in radio contact with the Italian side for over an hour before succumbing to the intense heat. His BMW melted into the pavement after he dragged an unconscious truck driver to behind a fire door. A commemorative plaque at the Italian entrance honors his heroism.[1]
Aftermath
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