Eurotunnel Fire

[Stu]

So I've heard reported that the fire yesterday & still burning was because of a lorry of carbolic acid turned over on the train in the tunnel.
How the feck can a lorry turn over if we can leave our bikes onn the sidestand not tied at all?

I had been wondering about that myself, as our head office is in Brussels and they use the eurostar all the time here.

[G]

Frankly the truck couldnt turn over........I assume they mean that maybe a tank poorly loaded fell over which caused a spill and subsequent fire.

A truck simply could not fall over, its physically impossible inside the truck cabins.

Probably a miss quote, a case of Chinese whispers.

[Biker Biggles]

Theres been at least three serious fires in the tunnel that I can remember.Maybe its about time some accident prevention measures were looked into,as sooner or later the whole thing will get demolished by an explosion.

[G]

Its transports millions of vehicles and people a year, and this is only the 2nd fire to occur in the tunnel. Yet its been open for years and years now, its safety record is actually pretty damn amazing.

[tigersaw]

Its a big hole in the ground, and it has a big fire, yet everyone gets off safe and sound. I think they have a brilliant safety record. Compare with the london underground maybe?

[Stu]

Originally Posted by tigersaw

Its a big hole in the ground, and it has a big fire, yet everyone gets off safe and sound. I think they have a brilliant safety record. Compare with the london underground maybe?

Or Alps tunnel fires?

sky reported over heated brakes, a possibility, there are lots of lorry fires every month caused by this, it can be a mixture of badly serviced brakes or heavy use and subsequent failure od the shoes, drums or pads which then cause excessive heat and fire... either way, wont stop me using the tunnel..

I like a good conspiracy, so:

Carbolic acid (or Phenol as it's otherwise known) was used during WWII by the Germans, both in the early days to execute small numbers of people, and later on to Euthanise themselves when captured etc.

Carbolic acid is listed by the people that operate the Eurotunnel as one of the chemicals that they do not allow on the trains.

The fire happened on September 11th.



Back on track with the thread, I too don't think it's exactly easy for a truck (be that rail or road) to fall over during transit. Also, this recent fire supposedly reached 1000C, yet people only went to hospital with smoke inhaliation & cuts/bruises. That's pretty amazing IMO.