Analysis of the Hsuehshan Tunnel Fire in Taiwan

Abstract

This paper focused on analyzing the Hsuehshan Tunnel Fire in Taiwan, which occurred from a bus fire in the afternoon of May 7, 2012 and caused two death and 34 injuries. Major object damages were reviewed and CCTV records were investigated toward understanding the fire temperature, smoke layers and situations of people in the tunnel refuge area (Fire Scenarios Analysis & Egress/Rescue Strategies of the 2012 Hsuehshan Tunnel Fire in Taiwan, MOTC, Taiwan, Jan., 2016.). Data collected from the fire scene were fed into fire scene reconstruction using CFD method (i.e., Fire Dynamics Simulators - FDS). It reveals that the fire temperature reached 800–900°C and HRR was around 25–30MW, which are consistent with the reviews of the incident and experiment data. Moreover, the fire temperature obtained from the CFD method when compared with experiment data is more reasonable. It is considered lift-threatening in terms of visibility, temperature and radiant heat flux for both road users and self-defense fire/rescue team when the fire heat reaches 10MW. It was also reasoned that the fire spread through exit holes on the bus roof and heat was carried by the ventilation flow, leading to serious damage of lighting objects and cable traps above the bus. This study also suggests that the best option for people encounter tunnel fire is to leave their vehicles immediately and evacuate toward upstream direction of the fire. For those who are in the downstream of the fire, they should use the exit doors on the connection tunnel to escape the incident.