Save almost 70%: 15.21 instead of 48.80 one way. Then on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, this year, I was commissioned to write a feature for The New York Times, looking back on the fire as the worlds most closely examined road disaster. Some had been upgraded in the thirty-four years since construction of the Mont Blanc Tunnel to survive for four hours. He had been devastated when his wife, who hated the alpine winters, left him and returned to her native Puglia in the far south. The following week, something new and bad is on again and the wheel restarts its circle. Unfortunately, he failed to return from his final visit into the tunnel and himself became a victim of the tragic inferno. The central ventilation hangar on the Italian side helps control the air in the tunnel. Plot On 24 March 1999, at 10:30 CET, Nicholas Borghi and John Whitby drive into the tunnel from the Italian side. Ten tried to escape on foot, but it was too far to fresh air, and they couldnt outrun the toxic fumes. a more efficient organisation of operational and emergency services (harmonised, safer and more efficient emergency procedures, specifically for cross-border operation). Italian firefighters finally reached the epicentre of the blaze yesterday, 48 hours later. A year after the fire, thousands of bikers gathered at the Italian portal to commemorate him. Application. The memorial on the French side honoring the 39 people who died in the tunnel blaze. Mont Blanc Tunnel, major Alpine automotive tunnel connecting France and Italy. And he soft-pedaled his actions in the days after the fire, because he didnt want to take anything away from Tinazzis sacrifice. (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.). Newspaper upgrades CEOs housing stipend to $35K a month amid buyouts. They plunged into thick, toxic smoke. I suppose I sympathize with any editor who chose to downplay a correction, after a devastated region had drawn inspiration from so unlikely a hero. Local motorcyclists still gather once a year, meeting on the Italian side, to pay tribute to the biker known as Spadino. At this point, there were at least 10 cars and 18 trucks in the tunnel that had entered from the French side. 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. the legal notices related to the use of my personal data. 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. However, most studies of fire toxicity have been regarding lethality, for . 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. [5] In 1908, a first design was presented by French engineer Arnold Monod, to much interest from Italian and French politicians. It would have been the story that led my obituary. The 1999 Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire case uses a time-line approach with discussion of events during each time period. Berthier talked to me about the first Memorial Spadino biker gathering. Other victims were found in "sealed" safety refuges, built eight years ago. Remember the wind in the tunnel, pushing the smoke and heat from the fire towards France? Tunnel du Mont Blanc - Tempratures atteintes dans la chausse et comportement au feu de la chausse, Document 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. 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. A reporter asked for 20 years of lottery winner data. The driver stopped, about three miles from daylight in both directions, and with a mile of solid rock above him. The sentence was upheld on appeal. For each and every one, a non-profit association or event is established. The opening was successful, with an axis variation of less than 13 centimetres (5 inches). Initially, there was a lot of conjecture, and uneasiness, about how a fire of that size could become so deadly and produce so much damage, Mr. Connell said. In a subsequent email exchange, Jean-Marc Berthier pointed out that Spadino was not trained or equipped to fight a fire. 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. But in recent weeks I have realized, with a creeping feeling of unease, that it was wrong. A Deadly Blaze in the Alps Made a Biker a Hero and Tunnels Safer for All, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/business/mont-blanc-tunnel-fire-anniversary-rescue.html. Grard Roncoli, the head of security at the tunnel, was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail plus an additional two-year suspended sentence, the heaviest sentence levied against any of the defendants. He entered before there was any formal alert. Northeast of Mont Blanc's summit, the tunnel is about 15km (10mi) southwest of the tripoint with Switzerland, near Mont Dolent. Tinazzi dragged him into Niche No. He was asked about the security measures that he ordered, or did not order, to be carried out. 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. Resistance to sprinklers in the name of safety has been a recurring theme. The Mont Blanc Tunnel links Chamonix (France) to Courmayeur in the Aosta Valley (Italy). The driver escaped unhurt; the deluge system kept the fire under control until a Miami-Dade fire crew arrived. The experience gained from the investigation into the fire was one of the principal factors that led to the creation of the French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau.[5]. 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. and the presence of over 400 people in . This was not yet considered a fire emergency. 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. A few minutes after Mr. Tinazzi rode in, two trucks from the Chamonix Fire Department arrived carrying 14 firefighters. [10] The reopening followed an extensive overhaul of the safety features. 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. Technical report 05.16B Systems and equipment for fire and smoke control in road tunnels. By then tales of Tinazzis bravery had already spread far and wide. They were blocked at garage 22 and had also abandoned their vehicles, and searched for trapped groups of firefighters who had taken refuge in the fire cubicles. 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. (Reuters) Despite the wide coverage it received, the news last week that 11 people had died in two separate incidents just days apart on. Sat Mar 27 1999 - 00:00. I wonder if he ever realized his mistake, or tried to correct the record. It is 11.7 km (7.3 miles) long and crosses under the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc. 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. In those countries, post-trial stories acknowledged that the legend was exaggerated. After analyzing the records, he noticed something unusual. These topics are also addressed systematically in thetechnical report 2016 R35 Experience with Significant Incidents in Road Tunnels. The ventilation system in the tunnel drove toxic smoke back down the tunnel faster than anyone could run to safety. The devastating fire led many countries to issue revised safety standards for tunnel design and engineering, including sprinkler systems, emergency response plans, and two-way ventilation systems that can quickly withdraw suffocating smoke. After a long chat over Skype on technical topics, I asked whether he could confirm Tinazzis actions. However, characteristic events are fortunately rare, and may be limited to specific circumstances. Structure: Tunnel: . By 11:11, more Italian firefighters had come to tackle the fire. The tunnel, opened with great fanfare in 1965, is seven miles long. But I never really dug back into it. On that day, atmospheric conditions in the Alps created a fairly strong breeze in the tunnel. 38 road users and a fireman lost their lives in the . 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]. 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. Or, he might simply have chosen that moment to make a routine return trip to Italy. Le tunnel des Tauern a t ouvert en 1975, celui du St. Gothard en 1980. The Fire in the Mont-Blanc Tunnel on 24th March, 1999 The Mont Blanc tunnel was opened on 16th July, 1965. Between 10:57 and 11:01, Italian firefighters had come within 300 metres of the truck, with two of them able to proceed to the garage 21. To this day, no one can say with certainty why the rig caught fire. 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. 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. . The refuge had a fire door rated to a four-hour standard. Over the years, there have been a few occasions when complete strangers thanked me for writing. The Mont Blanc Tunnel was originally managed by the two building companies. Smoke from the area around the truck's cab was detected by a tunnel smoke The Mont Blanc Tunnel was originally managed by the two building companies. Sure enough, in December 2017, a car erupted into flames in the tunnel. It includes heat detectors that can locate a fire to within 10 feet, and, as in Miami, a deluge system can dump several tropical rainstorms worth of water into a fire zone, while leaving the rest of the tunnel dry. The 16 defendants include individuals and companies. All of them survived but their commanding officer, who died in a hospital. Otherwise it was conventionally driven from two headings, the Italian and French crews beginning work in 1958 and 1959, respectively, and meeting in August 1962. An international survey of major tunnel fires can be found in the technical report 05.16B Systems and equipment for fire and smoke control in road tunnels, Table 2.1 "Serious fires accidents in road tunnels". Moreover, this report presents updated statistical data on tunnel collisions (Chapter 3) and fires (Chapter 4) for many countries. On 24 March 1999 a dramatic fire occurred in the Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy. [2] Some victims were able to escape to the fire cubicles. Had he really forgotten, I wondered, or was there something he didnt want to tell me? 99 Tunnel carries two stacked roadbeds, in an immense single-bore tunnel under downtown, running for nearly two miles. Thats the one magazine every other motorcycle editor reads, and so several more ran it in translation. [1] A commemorative plaque at the Italian entrance honours his sacrifice.