ABSTRACT
Rescues in road tunnel fire accidents have always been a highly challenging problem within China and globally. By adopting the case study of the Mont Blanc tunnel accident, this paper has divided these accidents into three stages: early, middle and late, and it is strongly believed, that fire rescue is the most effective at the early stage. Mid-stage fire rescue is shown to be inefficient; Late-stage fire rescue is proven to be ineffective. The ‘improved semi-horizontal ventilation method’ can be adopted by using the ‘chimney’ effect to exhaust smoke naturally and to control the spread of the smoke instantly. This will enable much earlier rescue and personnel escape. This method will also change the air duct structure of the semi-horizontal ventilation and the intermediate partition wall into a longitudinal oblique partition wall. Regardless of the stage of fire occurrence within the tunnel, the two air ducts with double holes for the smoke exhaust will increase the fire dissipation, creating a tunnel ventilation disaster prevention smoke exhaust mode.
