MAKE THE HGV FREIGHT COMPARTMENTS SAFER

Recent full-scale experiments initiated and conducted by the Swedish National Testing and Research Institute (SP) in co-operation with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and Norwegian Fire Research Laboratory (SINTEF) in a road tunnel at Runehamar in Norway showed that a fire in a heavy goods vehicle loaded with ordinary mixed goods created hat releases of between 66 and 202 MW. These heat releases are comparable to those expected from fires in a petrol tanker. The importance of this research is considered in relation to recent tunnel fires and the increasing freight traffic in Europe. Measures to improve the safety of road tunnels are proposed.