Burnley Tunnel fire

[Charliewool]

Just heard newsflash that the Burnley tunnel is billowing dense black smoke from either end as well as ventilation funnels.
Can actually see the smoke from down in Altona.
Reports are a major accident.
Both tunnels closed for emergency access from the Domain tunnel across to Burnley.

[monkeydog]

A truck and three cars have crashed according to channel 7 news

[pb02]

Two trapped after truck catches fire in tunnel
Friday Mar 23 10:00 AEDT

By ninemsn staff

A truck is reportedly on fire inside Melbourne's Burnley Tunnel close to the CBD.

Two people are feared trapped inside one of two cars the truck is said to have run over, Southern Cross Radio has reported.

Ken Brown from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade has told 3AW firefighters wearing breathing apparatus have entered the tunnel from both ends.


The tunnel has been evacuated.

[Charliewool]

From 3AW... At least one deceased. over 100 evacuated, leaving their cars in tunnel

[GXL078]

This WAS a tunnel disaster:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/internatio...581224,00.html

[pb02]

Latest news on Ninemsn says three dead!!

[RUQ1KA]

From herald sun


Three dead in Burnley blaze

Matthew Pinkney, Holly Lloyd McDonald and Jordana Borensztajn

March 23, 2007 10:20am


THREE people have been killed after four cars and three trucks collided in the Burnley tunnel.

According to witnesses, at least two explosions followed the crash which occured about half way through the 3.6km tunnel.

Sprinklers and exhaust fans have been activated to control the fire and suck away potentially toxic smoke.

Police have confirmed that at least 100 people have been evacuated with commuters forced to leave their cars and run from the tunnel on foot. The crash occured at 10:10 this morning.
Were you in the tunnel? Tell us what happened. Do you have a photo of the crash? Send to online@heraldsun.com.au.

Many other cars were seen reversing out of the tunnel to avoid the collision.

Police have closed both the Burnley and Domain tunnels running in and out of the city.

The Melbourne Fire Brigade is on scene but injuries are unknown at this stage.

Emergency crews have rushed to the scene with MICA paramedics on-scene.

Traffic entering the tunnel were immediately halted.

Smoke is billowing out from vents on Sturt St, South Melbourne and near Olympic Park on Swan St, Richmond.

CityLink spokesman Craig Little said the tunnel’s safety system, including the deluge system, was activated.

The main tunnel was closed to allow for the evacuation of people from the Burnley Tunnel and Transurban’s emergency response plans were immediately activated, he said.

John, a motorist, told Southern Cross Broadcasting he was among about 300 other people who walked out of the tunnel, congregating near the entrance.

“I had been sitting there a couple of minutes and the next thing there was an explosion further down in the tunnel and the car shook,” he said.

“About 50 seconds later there was another one. Next thing, we were told to evacuate and leave our keys in the car so I turned around and walked out.”

Another driver, Matthew, told 3AW he witnessed cars and emergency services responding to the crash.

“There were cars actually reversing back up the tunnel as I was driving over the top of it," he said.

"I could see a lot of smoke.

Because traffic had been diverted onto King's Way, this area was a nightmare, he said.

Cliff, who was about 300 metres from the tunnel entrance when CityLink made their announcement, said the traffic came to a standstill slowly and in an orderly fashion.


Link here
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...40-661,00.html

[charles_wif_xf]

This is biiiiig.

[2002auxr6]

i have always hated this tunnel

[XR06T]

hope that it doesnt get any worse..!
RIP to those caught in the accident.

on a lighter note is was probably a p plater speeding, ask the pollies, they'll tell ya!! :

[schmidty]

I love the tunnel. At 4:30am in a truck its nice and easy to get out and down the monash. So much easier going through the tunnels, even if they do get busy at peak times.

We've got a driver stuck in the traffic coming inbound on the monash for the last couple of hours in a B-Double.
Dont know what the answer is, but a lot of people are going to start questioning the use of the tunnel by heavy vehicles after this incident.

If you look at how many vehicles use these tunnels per day, there is always bound to be an accident sooner or later, and due to the environment inside the tunnel, any accident is always going to be of a more serious nature, draw a a much more serious and critical response, and be a lot more heavily publicised.

Will be interesting to hear when more news comes through in relation the the cause and the sequence of events that followed.

[Squalo]

Sad to hear of the fatalities.

This is why I don't use the M5 tunnel when I have my kids in the car - I could potentially save myself in a fire situation (have emergency rescue training), but I don't want to think about my kids being in it...

[kooky]

Without getting too far away from the topic watch them drop the speed limit in the tunnel to 60kph.....

After listening to the reports the fire was not the issue when a Lousville truck runs into 3 cars trying to avoid another accident.

[charles_wif_xf]

News on Nine had a live cross from the entrance to the Burnley tunnel. It is absolute chaos on the roads leading to the tunnels. About 500 people were evacuated.

[RUQ1KA]

Just heard an update on Triple M news

Apparently a truck swerved to avoid another that had blown a tyre and ploughed into a bunch of cars

and the tunnels are expected to be closed for another 12 hours!

Not good at all for all involved

[GXL078]

Originally Posted by XR06T

hope that it doesnt get any worse..!
RIP to those caught in the accident.

on a lighter note is was probably a p plater speeding, ask the pollies, they'll tell ya!! :

In a Commodore

[charles_wif_xf]

Now I'm hearing more may have died. Geeez!!!

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by mad_ed_wagon

Just heard an update on Triple M news

Apparently a truck swerved to avoid another that had blown a tyre and ploughed into a bunch of cars

and the tunnels are expected to be closed for another 12 hours!

Not good at all for all involved

Both of those drivers are going to be asking themselves a lot of questions tonight.

I dont care what tyres you blow, unless it's a steer tyre you just keep driving your a$$ out of there and deal with it at the top when you're out. If it was a steer tyre, its not safe to continue, but any others he was mad to stop. If this guy had have gotten on the UHF and informed other trucks of his situation and that he was blocking the left lane, other trucks would have had plenty of notice to move over and avoid him.

I dont care what happens, ya dont stop in the tunnel unless you physically can go no further!

[GXL078]

Originally Posted by schmidty

Both of those drivers are going to be asking themselves a lot of questions tonight.

I dont care what tyres you blow, unless it's a steer tyre you just keep driving your a$$ out of there and deal with it at the top when you're out. If it was a steer tyre, its not safe to continue, but any others he was mad to stop. If this guy had have gotten on the UHF and informed other trucks of his situation and that he was blocking the left lane, other trucks would have had plenty of notice to move over and avoid him.

I dont care what happens, ya dont stop in the tunnel unless you physically can go no further!

Sounds like he lost control after the blowout. Ever had a properly maintained tyre just "blow out"?. I notice a lot more cars lately that have worn out tyres, maybe 'cause I just started looking.
These tunnels are all built on the cheap. They used to build them with breakdown lanes the whole way through, now they are just built for profit.

[RUQ1KA]

Originally Posted by xcgxl

Sounds like he lost control after the blowout. Ever had a properly maintained tyre just "blow out"?. I notice a lot more cars lately that have worn out tyres, maybe 'cause I just started looking.
These tunnels are all built on the cheap. They used to build them with breakdown lanes the whole way through, now they are just built for profit.

From what i heard about the truck with the blowout, he didn't loose control, just pulled over to the left lane immediately and put on his hazards

Extract from herald sun,

Originally Posted by herald sun

Warren, a motorist, told 3AW he was directly behind the truck before it pulled over.

“All of a sudden I heard this almighty explosion and looked up and thought ‘what the heck was that?’,” he said.

“It was a tyre that had blown out completely. I got a whiff of it straight away.”

Warren said the driver pulled over almost immediately to the left hand lane and put his hazard lights on.

In his rear-view mirror he saw a car approaching very quickly, he said.

[Silver Ghia]

Originally Posted by 2002auxr6

i have always hated this tunnel

My wife hates driving or being a passenger going through the tunnel.

Its mainly the trucks that go too fast, tailgating and intimidating other drivers.

[347_XR8]

Possibilty of a gas tank ingnited?

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by mad_ed_wagon

From what i heard about the truck with the blowout, he didn't loose control, just pulled over to the left lane immediately and put on his hazards

Extract from herald sun,

And safety triangles, I hope??? (sorry, thought I'd get in before Mr. "Keepleft")

Seriously though, I do think the issue of heavy vehicles and/or the 80kph speed limit will be closely looked at after this?

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by mad_ed_wagon

From what i heard about the truck with the blowout, he didn't loose control, just pulled over to the left lane immediately and put on his hazards

And this action, if it was just a tyre, was pretty poorly thought out and just cost 3 lives. I've never known one of our tyres to blow out. We've got a company that come in every second saturday and check over all of our tyres, and repair/replace/rotate as required. We probably change tyres more often than we would if it was up to us, but for the peace of mind about always being on good tyres, and not having to worry about stupid re treads and blow outs or changing rooted tyres on the side of the road, its well worth the bucks.


I agree with the comment about the tunnels being built on the cheap. Even if they wouldnt build an entire emergency lane right through, a few turn out breakdown areas would have been better than nothing.

[ONBA1L]

RIP to those who have died. very devestating news kind of gives me second thoughts on entering the tunnel unless theres hardly any traffic but still. Me upon many other people would have thought this would have happened one day. It kind of reminds me of the movie Daylight i think with sylvester stallone.

[Feathers]

Exactly why my mum never uses tunnels. She gets claustrophobic too.

[RED FGII]

i was on my way into the tunnel from the merc dealer there and had cars reversing and coming toward me ?????? WTF. Then heard it on radio........
i was lucky i think

[sphell]

I use the tunnels all the time, they are good however I do agree that trucks tailgate and overtake way too much. Especially since there are like 20 overhead signs that say 'Trucks use left lane'.

[GXL078]

Originally Posted by sphell

I use the tunnels all the time, they are good however I do agree that trucks tailgate and overtake way too much. Especially since there are like 20 overhead signs that say 'Trucks use left lane'.

Yeah, but can they read them?

[Scott]

This is bloody awful news, poor bastards, what a way to go :(