Fire Evacuation in Underground Transportation Systems: A Review of Accidents and Empirical Research

Previous fire accidents have shown that fires in underground transportation systems, e.g., tunnels and underground stations, can cause many fatalities. It is therefore important in fire safety design to give adequate consideration to all aspects related to evacuation. The main purpose of this paper is to provide guidance to engineers involved in the design of underground transportation systems, and to create a basis for future research in the area. A review of previously reported fire accidents and of empirical research is performed. The review of accidents is based on a theoretical framework, namely four accepted human behaviour theories, which can be used in the fire safety design of underground transportation systems. Factors important for fire evacuation in these types of facilities are also presented, and data related to these factors are summarised. The review reveals many potential solutions to commonly observed evacuation problems, but it also shows that there is room for further future research in the area.

[1]  Jonathan D. Sime.  Designing for people or ball-bearings? , 1985 .

[2]  A Voeltzel,et al.  A comparative analysis of the Mont Blanc, Tauern and Gotthard tunnel fires , 2004 .

[3]  David V. Canter,et al.  Fires and human behaviour , 1980 .

[4]  Richard Carvel,et al.  A History of Fire Incidents in Tunnels , 2005 .

[5]  Daniel Nilsson,et al.  Evacuation experiment in a road tunnel: A study of human behaviour and technical installations , 2009 .

[6]  J. Gibson.  The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception , 1979 .

[7]  Colm Cunningham.  When is a door not a door , 2015 .

[8]  M. Deutsch,et al.  A study of normative and informational social influences upon individual judgement. , 1955, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[9]  T. Jin,et al.  Evaluation Of The Conspicuousness Of Emergency Exit Signs , 1991 .

[10]  Edwin R. Galea,et al.  Estimating the flow rate capacity of an overturned rail carriage end exit in the presence of smoke , 2000 .

[11]  Tadahisa Jin,et al.  Visibility through fire smoke , 1978 .

[12]  Gary F. Bennett,et al.  The SFPE handbook of fire protection engineering : By P.J. DiNenno, C.L. Beyler, R.L.P. Custer, W.D. Walton and J.M. Watts, Jr., National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA and Society of Fire Prot , 1990 .

[13]  D. Fennell.  INVESTIGATION INTO THE KING'S CROSS UNDERGROUND FIRE , 1988 .

[14]  三嶋 博之.  The theory of affordances , 2008 .

[15]  Christian Lebeda,et al.  Full-Scale Evacuation Experiments in a smoke filled Rail Carriage — a detailed study of passenger behaviour under reduced visibility , 2007 .

[16]  Jonathan D. Sime.  Escape behaviour in fires: Panic or affiliation. , 1984 .

[17]  Jonathan D. Sime,et al.  Affiliative behaviour during escape to building exits , 1983 .

[18]  Atle William Heskestad.  Performance in smoke of wayguidance systems , 1999 .

[19]  Daniel Nilsson,et al.  Coloured Flashing Lights to Mark Emergency Exits - Experiences from Evacuation Experiments , 2005 .

[20]  Daniel Nilsson,et al.  Social influence during the initial phase of a fire evacuation—Analysis of evacuation experiments in a cinema theatre , 2009 .

[21]  Henry Solomon,et al.  Helping as a Function of Number of Bystanders and Ambiguity of Emergency , 1978 .

[22]  Daniel Nilsson,et al.  Influencing Exit Choice in the Event of a Fire Evacuation , 2008 .

[23]  Jim Shields.  Human Behaviour in Tunnel Fires , 2005 .

[24]  J. G. Hollands,et al.  Engineering Psychology and Human Performance , 1984 .

[25]  Guylène Proulx,et al.  Playing with fire : understanding human behavior in burning buildings , 2003 .

[26]  Anders Norén,et al.  Modelling Crowd Evacuation from Road and Train Tunnels - Data and design for faster evacuations , 2003 .

[27]  T. Jin,et al.  Studies of Emotional Instability in Smoke from Fires , 1981 .

[28]  Frank Biess.  The Concept of Panic , 2014 .

[29]  Julian C. Leslie.  A behavioural solution to the learned irrelevance of emergency exit signage , 2001 .

[30]  Daniel Nilsson,et al.  Exit choice in fire emergencies - Influencing choice of exit with flashing lights , 2009 .

[31]  Evacuation Dynamics,et al.  Pedestrian and evacuation dynamics 2005 , 2007 .

[32]  Michael Schreckenberg,et al.  Was It Panic? An Overview About Mass-Emergencies and Their Origins All Over the World for Recent Years , 2010 .

[33]  David V. Canter,et al.  The decision to evacuate: a study of the motivations which contribute to evacuation in the event of fire , 1985 .

[34]  L. C. Boer,et al.  Behaviour on tunnel fire , 2007 .

[35]  Alan N. Beard,et al.  The Handbook of Tunnel Fire Safety , 2011 .

[36]  Håkan Frantzich.  Utrymning av tunnelbanetåg. Experimentell utvärdering av möjligheten att utrymma i spårtunnel , 2000 .

[37]  B. Latané,et al.  The Unresponsive Bystander: Why Doesn't He Help? , 1972 .

[38]  H. Rex Hartson,et al.  Cognitive, physical, sensory, and functional affordances in interaction design , 2003, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[39]  Christian Lebeda,et al.  Evacuation of a High Floor Metro Train in a Tunnel Situation: Experimental Findings , 2010 .

[40]  J. Sime.  Movement toward the Familiar , 1985 .

[41]  Håkan Frantzich.  Tid för utrymning vid brand , 2001 .

[42]  J. Sime.  Crowd psychology and engineering , 1995 .

[43]  G. Proulx,et al.  To Prevent 'Panic' In An Underground Emergency: Why Not Tell People The Truth? , 1991 .

[44]  Daniel Nilsson,et al.  Evacuation experiments in a smoke filled tunnel , 2004 .

[45]  Guylène Proulx,et al.  'Panic' and human behaviour in fire , 2009 .

[46]  ジャパンタイムズ.  The Japan Times , 1934 .

[47]  T. Jin,et al.  Visibility through Fire Smoke (III) , 1970 .