Fire and Explosion Hazards for Covered Tunnel Entries/Exits with Heavy Traffic and Long Waiting Time

Abstract

Tunnel entries/exits with heavy traffic are usually queued up with vehicles for hours. There are proposals to cover those areas to give better views and be able to tackle the pollution from the vehicle queue. However, fire and explosions at those crowded covered tunnel entries/exits (CTE) are very hazardous because of so many vehicles with packed double-deck buses and trucks carrying high amount of combustible goods waiting for long time. The bus interchange stations are full of queuing passengers. The authority must review it thoroughly on such safety issues for occupants trapped inside for hours and fire behaviour. Fire and explosion from vehicles using clean fuel such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), hydrogen and lithium-ion battery and even flammable refrigerants with propane would have more challenges.

Further, smoke spread to adjacent buildings is demonstrated to be very hazardous in several big fires in Hong Kong including a ship fire in 2021 and big fires at a construction site and a warehouse in 2023 with hundreds of neighbours to evacuate. This paper alerts the Authority to fire hazards associated with CTE. In-depth fire hazard assessment and additional firefighting schemes for these special task forces are required.