Current affairs Lessons learned


Communication issues Better lines of communication could have seen the fire service called out more quickly, the problem described more accurately, the evacuation undertaken more quickly and the fire service given better information. It would also have helped the people stuck


underground, who had to be rescued by trains that had been ordered not to stop, and the people who disembarked from trains during the fire. This was both an equipment issue and a policy issue, with protocols not clear enough to establish chains of communication in the event of an accident.


Training shortfalls While many staff were praised for their common sense actions in the wake of the fire, their management was heavily criticised. Staff had little or no training on what to do in the event of a fire, as it was deemed highly unlikely to ever happen. Evacuation protocols were poorly implemented, with individuals rushing out of any available exit and many becoming stuck below ground until they could be rescued by passing trains or, in one instance, a cleaner who opened a locked gate to another line.


Equipment and accelerants Wood and a build up of debris fuelled the fire, together with no fireproofing on the mechanical escalators. Fire safety equipment that could have quelled the fire was not used, while a fire extinguisher was used unsuccessfully by a member of staff. Firefighters had not been informed of the


presence of a fire hose in the ticket hall, which was hidden behind temporary hoardings. They were not provided with adequate equipment to fight the fire or clothing resistant to the intense temperatures involved.


Kaprun incident


The disaster that took place in 2000 in Kaprun, Austria, lingers long in the memory of anyone exposed to it. The tragic fire took hold on a funicular train ascending through the Gletscherbahnen Kaprun 2 funicular tunnel to the ski resort, having started in a fan heater on the train, and it burned through the train’s hydraulic line. This caused it to stop 600m into the tunnel and the doors to be locked shut, because they relied on the hydraulics. By smashing a window and escaping down past the fire, 12 people survived. However, another 149 were killed from


FOCUS


inhaling smoke as they attempted to escape above the fire.


Conditions made the fire particularly


deadly: in an enclosed space, the inclined tunnel had the effect of channelling heat and smoke upwards at an alarming rate. This resulted in those people who escaped but ran upwards being pursued by the smoke, which would extend to fill the resort at the top of the mountain and lead to three additional deaths there. The 12 who ran below the fire escaped the rising heat and were able to survive.


Lessons learned


Human behaviour People react in unpredictable ways when put under extreme duress and often do not make the best decisions. Ask the average person and they will know that heat rises, but confronted with a fire below them, their instinct may be to run upwards and away from it. This issue is also ably demonstrated by the inability of people on an aircraft to undo their seatbelts in an emergency. This is why it is so vital to remove any impediments to escaping and use emergency lighting and signage, voice alarms and trained fire marshals to guide people away from fires. A classic solution to this problem is the simple but revolutionary design of the fire door ‘crash bar’, which has saved so many lives since its invention in the 19th century.


www.frmjournal.com MARCH 2019 49


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