My wonder is - before the smoke alarms were turned off, how many of those “false alarms” matched the previous truck fires that were put out right away by truck drivers?
I imagine the false alarms were caused by exhaust fumes when high traffic volumes were using the tunnel. Three times longer than anything before; perhaps there was insufficient ventilation, the sensors were substandard, or the sensors had developed a fault through age/poor maintenance
Places I've lived have had fire alarms go off once every month or two, with not a single actual fire. This leads me to believe that fire alarms are shit and have many faults. Still, we're not able to disable the stupid thing, which is fair enough cos it's a safety thing, although domestic house fires are rare and not as dangerous as traffic tunnels. The Italians had no business switching off the alarms even if they went off a lot, it was up to them to check each false alarm, just in case. They had cameras. Perhaps a better system could be used with more sensors including heat AND smoke detectors, heat detectors are much less likely to go off falsely. Have lots of detectors so that if only one goes off it can be ignored, and make it possible to switch off individual detectors rather than the entire system. Also don't clad blocks of flats in flammable plastic.
@@greenaum I once lived in a student housing block that had heat detectors in the kitchens with a fire proof door that MUST be closed when cooking and then regular smoke detectors throughout the rest of the units. Their reasoning was that yeah uni students are probably gonna burn some food now and then and they didn't want the fire service coming out for every burnt piece of toast. But if for some reason a fire started elsewhere in the flat they wanted someone there asap. There were still problems with steam vents being too close to some of the heat detectors so we would be woken at 3am when the alarms would go off and we'd play a game of "whose flat is it?" Still better than if it was smoke detectors everywhere.
Probably none, since the 16 trucks fires that were documented were not considered false alarms, and I don't think there are undocumented ones since I highly doubt you could stop a truck on fire, extinguish it, and get going without anyone noticing. Turning the alarms off obviously seems horrendously stupid in hindsight, but from my experience a seasoned crew would not turn off fire alarm devices unless they were extremely faulty to the point it's not even useful anymore, like a 100 falses alarms a day. And beginners wouldn't even dare touch it. Doesn't make it okay of course, just trying to give another perspective :/
@@empressmarowynn I mean, my university halls we had both the joy of a 3am fire alarm because someone decided to do a stir fry while drunk and hadn't closed the kitchen door like that. And then the brilliance of a fire alarm in the pouring rain because someone actually had set their flats kitchen on fire.
I nearly choked when you said they started pumping in air to "clear the smoke." You would think these people would understand how fire works, but apparently not.
It actually makes a harsh, triage kind of sense to blow air *up* the tunnel ... when the space above the fire has been rendered completely unsurvivable. That's increasing survivability *below* the fire, which at this point is where all potential survivors are, and where firefighters and rescuers are working. That's clearing the air and improving visibility where there are still saveable people and things, and blowing the heat and smoke to where there's already nobody and nothing left to save.
@@Tindometari but with the chance of, you know, causing an explosion or some other catastrophic event that would do just the same thing. I just don't know how they decided it was worth the risk.
Could you imagine how excited those workers must have been when they finally met in the middle? Like, how cool of a moment would that have been to witness?
I've seen videos of such events for other tunnels, including the Channel Tunnel. Always a momentous occasion, lots of celebrating, champagne, and so on. Especially when it's an international tunnel, like the Channel Tunnel or this one, as it is an international meeting.
@@velox__ you say that......would have happened 12km in from the English side,they got of course and it was cheaper to bury the boring machine then retrieve it and re align it
I once was driving through the Eisenhower tunnel in Colorado and noticed that the truck in front of us had caught fire at the brakes likely due to the steep grade after the tunnel. I managed to flag him down and get him to pull over where we successfully extinguished the fire, but the whole time I was thinking of this story and how close it was to catching fire inside the tunnel. Always keep an extinguisher in your car.
The truck driver did have an extinguisher, it was just too much fire. They did tests afterwards, it turned out, that the speed of the truck actually kept the flames down, the moment, he stopped, it was too late, it just went all over. Sad part is, they calculated, that if he had continued through the tunnel, he couldve made it outside, b4 the fire became too much. Still, he couldnt have known, the normal action (as was done with all previous trucks catching fire in the tunnel, 15 or 16 I think) was to pull over and extinguish the fire.
I had a brake fire on my semi in Atlanta 9 years ago this week. I used two extinguishers with no effect. The whole trailer was engulfed within a few minutes. The brake material combined with hot oil was able to strip the oxygen out of the CO2 canister I sprayed on it. Something about magnesium in the brakes and the freight bound for a Granger warehouse. Magnesium is difficult to extinguish. If it's a small fire, fight it. But brake fires you should run from.
The Eisenhower Tunnel is at the top of the grade, so any truck passing through it would have just been climbing. The steep descent is after they get out (regardless of direction). Regardless, the thought of fire in there always terrifies me. This is why they have hazardous cargo go over Loveland Pass - though I wonder if margarine would be considered "hazardous?" It has almost as much energy as diesel fuel, but we don't usually think about that. I'd think in any situation where something is on fire going through a tunnel, the best action wouldn't be to stop and fight it but to just press on and try to get out of the tunnel as quickly as possible, like Dfuher said.
I remember when this happened even though I'm in America. It was a significant international story. The biggest factor (which was apparently a surprise to the safety regulators at the time) was the ENORMOUS energy content of the margarine on board the truck. Margarine contains around 7 Calories or 29Kj of energy per gram. NINE TONS of margarine or 261 GIGAjoules of energy. That's equivalent to nearly 7,000 liters of diesel fuel (~1,800 gal). And that's not even taking into consideration the 12 tons of flour at 4 Calories per g or all the plastic packaging for everything which is basically just solid petroleum in terms of energy content. There was no choice but to simply let that much fuel and energy burn off before entering the tunnel.
@@Grognarthebarb My sister wants to put foam all over her room for streaming but the way our apartment is set up, had a fire started, she would be completely trapped. It's just screaming fire hazard and I am totally against it.
@@ingrid_inthesky I'd imagine there should be Fire retardant foam you can get but it would be more pricey I am pretty sure i have seen people hang sheets as a noise damper and echo prevention for streaming atleast in that situation they could be put up and taken down between uses and finally there's always software that filters echos and non voice things out i'd suggest pointing out how hard the foam is to put up and how ugly and non flexible/reusable it is for how hard it is to put up
I'd heard of this accident before and the energy of margarine, comparable with diesel fuel. Curious, while melting some margarine on the stove I deliberately dripped some on the burner to see if it would ignite. It wasn't dangerous or anything, but the size of the resulting flame relative to the tiny amount of margarine surprised me.
@@Gunners_Mate_Guns Failed? As in he was able to save everyone? Perhaps. But there was at least 10 people in hospital still alive whom might've otherwise not have been who attributed their being saved "by the man on a motorcycle". That's 10 lives whom otherwise might've perished too. That's a win right there.
As soon as I heard that they were pumping oxygen into the tunnel, my stomach fell. What a mistake! An understandable one in a way, since they were trying to think about saving the people trapped in there, but oh so dumb. Anyone who deals with fires ought to know you don't add oxygen to a conflagration.
At the very beginning of the video, he describes the fire as “turning [the tunnel] into an oven”, to which I immediately thought “more like a blast furnace”. Then I read this comment - I hadn’t known they’d literally turned it into a blast furnace! :(
@@rizzascollectibles3165 Yeah, having an argument with stranger is so much more important than remembering the dead and being respectful about it. 🙄 Nice ego you have there.
For what it’s worth, tunnels the world over have had designs learning from this fire. Sealed, fireproof escape tunnels with entirely independent sources of air and power) in addition to the main tunnels are now the norm.
I used to be a commercial vehicle mechanic, one of our customers was due to be in the tunnel that day, and was caught up in the traffic near the tunnel entrance while the firefighting efforts were ongoing. He was making good time taking his curtainsider loaded with charcoal briquettes, fire lighters, disposable BBQs and fire starting fluid to be delivered to a retailers distribution center and was due to enter the tunnel about the same time the fire was first noticed. As luck would have it he had pulled over a little way before the tunnel due to suddenly feeling ill, quote; "I was incredibly hot, just burning up inside and short of breath like there was no air in the cab", not wanting to be in the tunnel feeling that way as there would not be anywhere to stop he took 5 mins at the side of the road to walk around the truck a couple of times and the feeling apparently passed as quickly as it had come so he brushed it off as being caused by whatever service station food he had eaten earlier and he set off again, only to be stopped with the other traffic within view of the tunnel entrance. We all thought it was a weird but lucky coincidence as he told the story to those of us sat in the office on lunch break, but then he told us how the previous owner of the truck had owned a pair of identical trucks and had actually died when the cab heater in one had caught fire while he was asleep in it, the fire destroyed the entire front half of the truck the owner was in and damaged the rear half of the other truck, in order to get some money back for his widow the trucks were dismantled and the good rear of the burnt out truck was used to replace the burned rear of the good truck. That good truck was the one our customer then bought and ran for quite a while before the incident, he says he was never superstitous before but he is sure that someone or something was looking out for him on that day - I'm not really superstitious either but sometimes I think he might be right. I can't imagine how much worse the situation could have been if 20 odd tons of stuff that's supposed to be easy to light and burn for hours had been involved in the incident too.
I'm not even slightly superstitious, but I have shivers while reading this. That man was not meant to die that day, and the previous owner had his back.
Or he just wanted a break and some nice fresh air before going into an 11.6km tunnel, and then changed his story for either attention or unknowingly altered his memory of the reason why he took a break after hearing of the fire. He probably wouldn't even have made it into the tunnel without the 5 minute break.
My mom's boyfriend's cousin was driving a load of c-4, gasoline, propane, and nuclear bombs that day, and would have been in the tunnel if he hadn't stopped to look for four-leaf-clovers on the side of the road.
While I get what they were going for when they started to pump air in- after all, attempting to make the air more breathable is a good intention- I can't help but wonder if someone at some point was like 'why are we doing this, it's just going to make it worse'
The people who made the decisions to pump in air should be punished as well for such extreme act of negligence in this incident, if they weren't already been.
My shock was that they know air/oxygen feeds a fire and in house fires etc, they always say close doors and don't open a door to a room that's on fire (if you can help it) because it will create a fire ball due to the oxygen rushing into the room. So, I'm a bit judgemental here ... then again, I don't know the physics they probably thought they were dealing with.
Sounds like a management decision. People who know nothing and have zero practical experience. More than likely someone did call it out, but was ignored.
It was actually against the fire protocols, but the operator on duty in a distressed state at the pictures on his surveillance screens either wasnt properly trained or simply forgot due to the stressful situation, I dont remember which. I do remember, that it was not a management order as JJ claims, it was a single person making a terrible mistake with the best intentions, just trying to help.
@@dfuher968 Perhaps he thought it was "just the truck" burning, not knowing it's flammable cargo, and that the fuel for the fire should've been burned out by that time. Hard to say, but that seems a logical (though terribly wrong) decision at the time.
7:24 -- Nothing quite so uniquely sucky as when the type of dude who'd give their life for a stranger actually does die. If anyone deserves to make it, man, it's them. :( RIP
Rescue efforts were also hampered because authorities couldn't decide who was in charge, if it was the French side or Italian side. Crazy, as you would think, just do everything to put the fire out.
Unfortunately someone needs to be in charge, and decide what direction to fight the fire from. On a tunnel you have to blow air in one side and smoke out the other, meaning someone had to decide which direction to attack from. Had the fire not been near the centre of the tunnel, that decision would be a lot easier.
This incident was in news in the UK a few days ago. Tory minister Jacob Reese Mogg was complaining about safety signs in Dartford tunnel that were introduced following the Mont Blanc fire. Excellent video.
Let me guess he was complaining it cost “too much” money for the additional safety messages and precautions and said it was an example of the evil eu overreach hurting profits for companies?
@@jonmel it was more trivial than that but a massive issue for Jacob. An EU directive was issued after the MB fire to place signs a set distance from the exits at either end. Jacob thought it was ridiculous that when translated from metres to yards as used in the UK it looked like an odd number. So he cited it as a benefit of having left the EU that we could change it or remove it. He hadn't thought about just moving it until it became a round number or even putting more signs in. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter as long as the sign is there.
In 2000, less than year after this I was on a bus that passed through the alternate route for this tunnel and there was a image of a man on a motorcycle with lots of names on plaques. Passengers on the bus asked the driver about it (we were all not from Europe) and he told us this story as we sat in traffic.
@@zurirobinson2749 So it's sadistic to inform curious foreigners about something terrible that happened in your history? Since when? At least they know.
We have a similarily long tunnel near my hometown (OK, it's "only" ~10km long). There have been two big fires basically back-to-back a few years ago; a crane and a bus that started burning in the middle of the tunnel. Also due to lessons learned from the Mont Blanc fire, noone was seriously injured in both cases.
Not a patch on the Birkenhead Tunnel, the Queensway Tunnel 1936, is an engineering marvel of the modern world, our grandad smashed his way over to Liverpool and watched King George 6th say Hooray!
I was thinking maybe he hadn't inspected his truck thoroughly, but then at the end of the video it was said that it's unclear how the fire started. So yeah wtf.
I mean he knew his vehicle was smoking and drove deeper into the tunnel, if he had stopped further up on the French side I bet there would have been fewer cavities. The video said he stopped at the bottom, effectively ensuring both sides of the tunnel would fill with smoke, screwing over both sides at an attempt rescue people or fight the fire. The charges could have been more for the incompetence of continuing deeper into the tunnel which made the situation worse.
Excellent summary as usual, but Im surprised, u didnt mention the appaling decision on the French side to continue to let cars enter the tunnel for several minutes, AFTER the fire alarm had sounded. The Italian operator, who turned on the oxygen with the best of intentions, made a horrible mistake, acting against the fire protocols, tho he likely was in a panicked state. But at least the Italian side was closed for traffic, as soon as they were aware of the fire. Whoever on the French side decided NOT to close the tunnel immidiately certainly made a mistake on the same scale, as noone from the cars let in during those minutes survived, they all went into the tunnel and ended up caught in a queue with not enough room to turn around (as the motorists on the Italian side did), and most didnt even make it out of their cars.
I took one look and decided I’d rather drive the extra 2 hours on the roads with the hairpin switchbacks… Tunnels? Nope. I can’t handle an MRI - even with an open machine!
Claustrophobia hits me in the wierdest ways: Elevator? You'll see me climb up 80 flights of stairs if I have the choice. compact tunnel? ABSOLUTELY HELL TO THE BIGGEST NAW. Aircraft? Sign me up I wanna ride in that box!
@@airplanemaniacgaming7877 Actually, it’s funny that I’m okay with airplanes, too, for the most part. And if I start to get “itchy”, I can make it work by turning on the air just a bit. Don’t know why that helps, but it does. 🤷🏼♀️ As for elevators, it varies with me. But there can’t be more than a certain number of people with lots of space. I’ll wait a LONG time for an emptier car or, if too many people get on from lower floors, I’ll get off there and wait for an emptier one. I’d do the stairs if it was from a low enough floor and my knees allowed me… That used to be my MO.
@@Lucinda_Jackson Wierd part is, my times i've gone up have been in Royal Canadian Air Cadet gliders and my first time ever going up in a plane was in the tow plane because the winds that day were too high for gliders lol. much smaller than say, a passenger aircraft.
Tunnels are dangerous. I'll throw out the Gotthard tunnel fire/collision in 2001 as well, the 1942 Balvano train disaster as well as other examples of tunnel disasters. Also the Chunnel has had its disasters too EDIT: Also 9 tons of margarine, 12 tons of flour. That's basically a bomb being hauled in a fridge trailer, the chemical makeup of margarine means when it burns, you have a problem...
Also Jace, flour is more flammable than petrol when in large quantities also which I guess you were alluding to too. I worked in a Bakery and the UK authorities say you have 2 mins to evacuate in a fire but the place went up in seconds. I was told this by colleagues who were there at the time which was a few months or so before I worked there.
@@simonbutterfield4860 Flour is. Flour on its own is bad, margarine on its own is bad, put them together... I can't find anything if at that point in time they neded a hazmat sticker on the trailer and I totally and utterly believe that bakery story given how many dust explosions/fires have come up over the years. Two minutes to get out, that's way way too long. You got flour and oxygen, and a spark, you basically got a fireball right from the get go. That being said I'm curious though if the refridgerated trailer would have had an impact on how dangerous the flour itself is, I need to check with someone who hauls 20 ton fridge trailers and knows how they operate. I'd need to find it but in one of the documentaries it was pointed out stopping meant there was no air flow to keep the flames from spreading, I don't know if that'd have changed anything though, there was a fire extinguisher on board but once the cab went up and the flames got to the diesel tank there was nothing to be done.
After so many months of Following 'Fascinating Horror' video's ... This Narrator NEVER FAILS to properly phrase with proper emphasis ... video after video !!! He is an EXCELLENT Speaker !!!
While looking at photos of this tunnel, I learned that the Italian for "exit" is "uscita" - which sounds exactly like an Italian who just realised the tunnel's on fire.
???? Your teacher is wrong! If an Italian finds out the tunnel is on fire they'll shout "al fuoco" or "c'è un incendio" 😊 "uscita" is also in cinemas and all public buildings, on fire or not! Which is good, as usually you know how to go in but not how to get out, and often people are not precise when giving directions 😂 Btw, I am Italian 🤣
Coz it was a single person, an operator on the Italian side, who did it on his own in violation of the fire protocols. In the distress of the pictures from inside the tunnel he simply panicked and instinctively turned on the oxygen trying to help ppl. A horrible mistake with the best intention and a devastating outcome, that he has to live with for the rest of his life.
Kaprun was so so sad. First they had so much difficulty getting out of the train, and then almost all of them walked up. I never did understand, why they did that, every1 knows, smoke goes up, thats why u have to crawl along the floor out of a smoke filled building. But I guess, it was simple panic, and they did have to go past the flames to go down to safety.
Once again a video of a well known tragedy that I have seen done many times. But yours was chock full of more details that I have never heard before. I never skip one of your pieces no matter how familiar the subject matter as I always know that I will learn something new.
9:42 What was the truck driver deemed guilty of? His truck caused the disaster, but as far as is said in the video he didn't do anything wrong. He had no evidence of anything amiss until he was already in the tunnel, and once aware his truck was on fire did the best he could to address the situation. I'd think he would have been better to keep driving, try to get out of the tunnel as quickly as possible, rather than stopping to try to fight the fire, but that was at worst a mistake rather than negligence or any other guilty action. He already has to live with the guilt of this for the rest of his life, even if he wasn't at fault. Really he, like all the victims who died, was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I had the same thought. The only thing I could imagine that would make him culpable is if they deemed he didn't adequately attempt to extinguish the flame before retreating. That is purely speculation though as I don't know anything about the case or the laws in those countries. I'm glad they gave him a suspended sentence though. He certainly did not deserve jail time for this. I'm sure he was quite frightened when he saw the truck go up in flames. I can only imagine how much more terrible it became when he saw the scene play out as it did.
And the cause of the fire was determined to be a cigarette that someone else threw away and got sucked into his air filter. He had no part in that. It would be nice to know what he was convicted of.
Investigators accuse Mr Degrave of abandoning his lorry when he realised it was on fire, rather than backing it into one of the emergency bays. Mr Degrave said yesterday the vehicle was too long to manoeuvre into the space. He said: "I did the only thing possible. And I wasn't to know the controllers weren't watching their video screens or the alarm wouldn't be given."
I thought the same: it was a HUGE mistake to stop in the middle of the tunnel by FREE WILL instead of driving out the truck until it is still able to MOVE!!! I think the fire was kept at low level by the wind caused by the moving vehicle. As soon as it stopped (by the driver...) there was no more cooling effect, so the fire was able to burst out. I think he should have kept guilty for this bad, very bad decision....
I find it frustrating that "nothing has gone wrong so far" is often seen as proof that nothing will go wrong. Previously, sixteen trucks had caught fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel, so truck fires were clearly a possibility. The fact that those sixteen truck fires were contained by their drivers was apparently seen as evidence that the system worked and nothing needed to be added. Common sense dictates that at some point a driver would fail to extinguish a truck fire, yet no additional safety measures had been instituted.
it is indeed "fascinating horror". I get what you mean, I often wonder why I enjoy these so much (brilliantly researched, presented, narrated etc) - I often feel sickened not only at waste of life, but horrific way to die - however at least in most cases, tragedy has led to redesigns, basic safety features & measure that have saved so many more lives.
If it is then I’m very wrong - these videos not only help me learn more about history and safety protocols but FH also does it in an unbiased way. These videos are also well researched and if there’s anything he missed, someone in the comments will probably post more info about it.
I had never really thought about the fact that truck drivers can't turn around in tunnels and are essentially locked in for whatever happens. I guess then if you're in an emergency like this in a car that can turn around, might be the time to grab as many stranded truckers as you can fit in your vehicle and bail them out of there with you.
The fireman that rode through on his motorbike to help others was the true definition of an hero. That word is thrown about to freely these days and people are hailed heroes for doing no more than overcoming a mild illness. That man new he was driving into a death trap to save strangers and died horrifically for it.
I know the name “Mont Blanc” as the ammunition ship that was struck by the “Imo” in Halifax Harbor in 1917. 20 minutes later the Mont Blanc exploded and leveled the city. You did an excellent video on it last year
Having seen drivers removing hazchem stickers from trailers in order to avoid having to wait for the dangerous goods convoy with escort through the Dartford Tunnel which is a baby tunnel compared to MB, it makes you wonder how many others do this at MB, and other tunnels. Not knocking all waggon drivers, just the minority few who want to risk an incident just to save a few minutes.
We all like to talk about how the Bermuda Triangle and lava and quicksand turned out to be less of an everyday worry than we thought they would be as kids... Fascinating Horror is always here to remind us that, while those things prob won't trouble us any time soon, preeeeetty much everything else around us is definitely capable of killing us, no questions asked.
Couple things. Fire spread mostly because of the flour and margarine in the truck and the fresh oxygen mainly spread the cyanide-filled smoke through the tunnel. Most of the victims couldn't drive off or away because engines require oxygen to start. But yeah, great doc 👍
Yes, I was wondering why those in cars didn't simply turn back the way they'd come (and take any stranded truck drivers along with them) when they realised that the tunnel ahead was impassable. This explains it.
@@rich_edwards79 and you need to remember that in most case people will just wait and once its to late (when the Co2 is starting to come) they realize that they should leave but either cant move around or are already poisoned be co2
I am a firefighter, I watch your videos for reference. Unfortunately our current SOPs on unfortunate incidents we learn from previous incidents. Thank you for all your hard work. It is appreciated.
RIP Spadino, he was a simple man who enjoyed riding but when the disaster happened he stepped up and saved many lives at the cost of his own. His BMW bike was melted to the ground. Bikers still ride up in tribute and memory of their fallen brother till this day
Hey Fascinating Horror, you’ve made the big time! My brother lives in another state and we’re not very close and we got together last weekend and by sheer coincidence he mentioned watching one of your videos!! I was like whattttt no way! 🙌🏼😃
I cannot believe they pumped air in. It was 1999. ALL of us watching know how that was going to go. I'm just so sorry. This is awful. It happened just 3 weeks before my youngest son was born. =/ So, so sorry. Thanks for helping us be aware of these. Your research is appreciated. xx
Yeah, it was an operator on the Italian side, who made a terrible mistake, just trying to help, and forgot the protocols, and why the protocols existed. I dont agree with those, who want him punished. He has to live with that for the rest of his life, that is more than enough punishment. He was trying to save ppl, not kill them.
@@dfuher968 or he was trying to kill people! You don’t know what he was thinking! If your mistakes lead to death of people! Then it’s Negligent Homicide!! Unless intent is proven!!!
@@SpicyTexan64 Because they knew more about how fire worked in 1999 as opposed to 1899. Science and its advancement, dude. They'd not long figured out cholera was not caused by miasma. The sciences were all still in their infancy.
@@dfuher968 Yeah. I think people were facing something that was so horrible they probably weren't thinking straight. We do weird stuff when in shock. I agree with you.
I feel like the initial lorry driver wasn't at fault. Anyone know why it was decided to charge him? He tried to extinguish his vehicle, but had to retreat to save his own life. I expect he raised the alarm after getting out of the tunnel, which is all he really could have done, no? I always worry that whoever happens to be at the center of poorly managed systems falling apart gets blamed and ends up having their life and reputation even more ruined than a tragedy already deal them, but maybe there's more to it. Anyone know?
French law kind of weird in assigning liability. Someone HAS to be found to blame. After the Concorde crash a mechanic for Continental Airlines was convicted of manslaughter because a piece of metal trim from the plane he had worked on was found on the runway and might have caused or contributed to the accident.
The sad part of this accident is that, theoretically, if the driver had kept going until he reached the Italian side, the fire wouldnt have erupted the way it did. Studies on other vehicle fires show that once the vehicle stops moving, it can better take in oxygen to grow. If the driver hadnt stopped until he exited the tunnel, it's likely the accident wouldnt have happened.
For sure, most likely a high pressure fuel leak creating a mist, the white 'smoke' from under the cab. The moment you stop is the moment the airflow under the cab changes and it catches on fire on the hot exhaust and boom, trucks suddenly on fire. I for one do not believe the cigarette/air filter story, when a simple mechanical failure explains what happened.
@@AlexanderBurgers That was what I was thinking exactly. I've had the very same thing happen to me a couple times over the years driving trucks. The theorie about the cigarette at the end is laughable. That's about the most far fetched thing I've heard in my life
I’ve had a small truck fire from a brake binding on, just slightly rubbing over the course of around 25 miles. I couldn’t feel the drag, the truck was old and the suspension as sloppy and rattly as you’d expect. Heard a little squeak as I slowed to manoeuvre into a loading bay, opened the door and as I climbed out a flame shot up out of the brakes below me and disappeared almost immediately. Not wanting to take a chance with it I jumped back in and moved it into a car park, the biggest clear area I could get to and called 999 When the firefighters turned up there was nothing going on visibly, they used a laser temperature probe on the wheel and tyre and found that the tyre was burning on the inside and temperature was steadily increasing. They had to hose it down for 30 mins to get it cold enough to stop the fire, if it had been left a few minutes more the heat would’ve increased the pressure to the point of blow out.
I have seen other documentaries on this disaster but, as always, you give far more information about the incident and its causes are outstanding. Burning to death is absolutely the worst way to die in my opinion. Although some died before they even knew it, the rest must have thought they could escape until they realized they were going to die. And it all happened to them in the dark. How horrible.
This is truly horrific. Driving through tunnels has always made me nervous due to the confined space and difficulty that could arise in the event escape becomes necessary. This will certainly add to that anxiety. Of course, where would this video be without the quote that summarizes the basis for all your content: "Safety was not an area that was considered a priority." That ideology always comes as a bit of a surprise to me but sadly it is so prevalent. At least the safety oversights weren't quite as glaring as so many other incidents. At least they had built in rooms to shelter from fire - even if they weren't entirely effective. I'm a little surprised that the driver was found guilty. I'm really not sure what more he could have done. I suppose it may have come down to the fact that he could have made a greater effort to extinguish the fire before abandoning the vehicle. Such a terrible tragedy this was. Great work on the video as usual.
1000 degrees C is so freaking hot. I was watching a video about space last night and some stars are 1000 degrees C. Sure that's not considered a very hot star, but holy hell it's still a star and that's how hot it was inside that tunnel with people in it.
Very surprised but so pleased to see a video in english about my county. I'm living in the city where took place the jugdement. The Mont-Blanc tunnel fire still is a bleeding wound in the heart of people living here. Thank you !
What's the point in suing the driver? He tried to fight the fire as soon as he noticed it, only to be pushed back by the flames. What was he supposed to do? Burn to death?
The way the Narrator tells it the Driver did NOT immidiately stop to try and check on the fire when he was made aware of it. He kept driving on for several minutes, going deeper into the tunnel. And after failing to fight the fire it seems he ran all the way out of the tunnel, without stopping at an emergency phone to immidiately call it in.
@@dyamonde9555 No, he was pushed back by the flames, that flared up, the moment he stopped. His extinguisher did not help at all. He was picked up by a car from the Italian side, that was almost by the truck, but managed to turn around and make it out of the tunnel. If they had stopped, they wouldve died too. Also, he did stop, as soon as he noticed smoke as distinguished from exhaust. Add to that, all previous truck fires in the tunnel had been dealt with by the truck drivers. When they noticed fire or were made aware by oncoming cars, they stopped and used their extinguisher. He had no reason to think, that wouldnt work. They did tests afterwards getting to the origins of the fire. Thats how they came to the conslusion of a lit cigarette being thrown into the air intake. They concluded, that the fire was started, but hidding, when the truck entered the tunnel, and smoke only became visible, as the truck drove further into the tunnel. The really sad part is, that they determined, that the airflow generated by the speed of the truck actually kept the fire somewhat at bay, and the moment, the driver (and the airflow) stopped, the flames roared, and the driver never had a chance of extinguishing it. The ppl in the car, that picked him up, witnesses this, thats why they yelled at him to jump in, while they were turning the car around. Ive seen an interview with the driver of that car. They barely made it out.
This is one of the disasters I heard about that has stuck with me the longest. People died simply because they chose the wrong direction and nothing more. That firefighter who led them the right (long) way out was sheer good fortune that he was there.
It strikes me that the tunnel was a disaster waiting to happen. The Italians couldn't have cared less about safety, and this proved it. Add to this the fact that the tunnel was just *ONE LANE* each, making it quite narrow, and you have more (dare I say it) fuel for the fire. Then comes the thing of smoking. I had never considered the prospect that a lit cigarette may somehow go into the air intake of a truck, but it now seems likely that this is what caused the disaster. Now add in that the truck driver ignored the smoke until too late, and you have all the ingredients for a disaster! I don't think the truck driver deserved any real punishment - he got a 4 month suspended prison sentence - but he should have been seriously concerned about the smoke. I used to drive trucks up to 12 pallets, Bendy / Articulated buses, and 14.5 metre coaches for a living, so I know something about big vehicles and danger...
So far, as I read the comments, you are the only one to mention the most probable cause of the fire -- the fact that smokers seem to view the entire world as their ashtray. It almost makes me hope that lung cancer got the butt flicker in the end.
I can't stand it when I see a car in front of me throwing a lit cigarette from their window. It's bad enough to do it on a normal road but in a tunnel is absolute stupidity.
@@erynlasgalen1949 Simple! I took notice of what was said in the video and thought about it, taking into account my years with buses and trucks. Thanks for your positive comment! 🙂
A truly frightening story. The fact that this tragedy occurred so far into the tunnel and oxygen being pumped into the tunnel while the fire was burning, made this even more tragic
Thank you for bringing us such well researched and presented videos! At the same time, I can imagine having to do so much research into things like this can take a toll, so please if you ever need to take a break don't feel guilty
One of the most curious results of the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire is the specialised fire fighting vehicle, BAI Janus 4000 BI-fronte. It has two cabins, one on each end of the truck, and it can drive in both directions at a speed of 120 km/h, eliminating the need to reverse or attempt a U-turn, which might be outright impossible in the confined space of a road tunnel. Some other manufacturers have also copied this design, allowing for faster response or retreat by the fire fighters.
In 1999, the Kingsway Tunnel in Liverpool was inspected by the European Union after the fire, with all the measures in place, the tunnel was rated 'good'.
OMG! I worked on a parallel tunnel to the Mont Blanc, designed and built precisely because of this tragedy; that was actually why I went to Europe my first time. I am fan of this channel and a case had never hit so close to me. Thanks for covering it!!!
I think of this disaster whenever I think of Elon musk's stupid hyper loop (or whatever its called) tunnel. I saw a video of what it's like inside and there is literally no space to open car doors. It's a death trap waiting to happen.
@@clowndollbitch Nah I get the feeling that was sarcasm. But you see that kind of thing a lot, logical criticism of an idea will be met with Elon simps touting his ideas as gospel.
Ironically it was this documentary that led me down a whole heap of rabbit holes to form possibly the most passionate view I have ever had; that is that seed oils have been the biggest disaster over the last 100 years and these toxic sludges must be banned. When you mentioned the truck was carrying margarine, I felt something was amiss. What is a “vegetable oil” were lubricant/machine oils over 100 years ago. Makes sense that these oils were responsible for the worst tunnel disaster in history!
It's this tunnel fire that makes you wonder why Elon Musk is even bothering with his own tunnel. Once you've seen how cramped his proposed tunnel idea is, you already know that it doesn't even need the fatal decision of pumping oxygen into it that will already cause so many fatalities there if a fire were ever to start.
Prob be exetemely hard for a fore to start anyhow inside that type of tunnel. Seeing as how's its suppose to be a vacuuum chamber. No air or oxygen in it to burn.
@@biohazardlnfS Elon is, right now, building tunnels which are even worse than the normal ones and are packed full with extremely flamable cars. I hope they close it down before it gets featured on this channel.
@@biohazardlnfS Guessing he's referring to the Las Vegas tunnel. The one where cars drive in it, and which is too narrow to open the doors of said cars outside of the stations.
@@kain0m Oh wow. I could already tell the guy only thought he was smart, but that is next level kind of dumb. How did any self-respecting engineer end up signing off on that?
My first episode of seconds from disaster was on this incident, i was 12 yesrs old when i saw it and for 3 years i had a fear of tunnels because of it, im over it now but i remember how shocking that episode was and the things that went wrong. Absolutely horiffic accident
We had something similar in the San Francisco Bay Area in the Caldecott Tunnel when a gasoline tanker was involved in an accident. A fireball ensued and the trapped motorists were killed. The death toll was kept down to 7, as the accident occurred late at night.
I remember that! Another horrific story! I think of it every time I go through that tunnel. Luckily it’s fairly short! But. Going under SF Bay on BART gives me the willies. Imagine the BIG ONE happening, and you’re stuck under the bay!
agreed. that is paramount to criminal negligence, and i think Elon (ands his idiotic mindless drone fans) need to get a clue and realize how much danger his tunnels present to people that may use them (if they are dumb enough to even consider it in the first place, sorry to say) but yeah, a nice oversight like not being able to open the car doors is something of a major flaw in what's essentially a flame from hell type of vehicle....
The security guard was a true hero. RIP Safety was overlooked and too many vehicles were allowed to enter. And pumping air into the tunnel was a huge mistake.
I was on a coach in this tunnel but at a standstill only a short distance inside when we noticed smoke pouring out of the sides. It caught fire and we were evacuated really fast. The response was rapid and thankfully no one was hurt. We had heard about previous fires in the tunnel but I can’t imagine this kind of horror. RIP to everyone on that terrible day.
I feel like the lory driver shouldn't have been charged. Unless there's some information missing in the video, none of what happened was his fault. He did try to stop the fire, and only fled because he realized he didn't have the tools to do so.
I think he bares some responsibility for willingly transporting that much dangerous cargo. I don’t think he should have been charged either but, unfortunately, drivers in these cases are the easiest sacrificial lamb
His vehicle was the cause of the fire, he didn't stop right away when a issue was brought to light, and fires in vehicles are often caused by lack of maintenance such as an oil or gas leak onto a hot engine.
I remember having discussions about this when it happened and we all agreed that the driver shouldn't have stopped his truck in the tunnel. Yes the trucks on fire, but its not that bad, just keep going!, increase speed if possible, but just keep the truck moving and out of the tunnel. Once clear, then get out and run like hell! Hindsight is a wonderful thing but shoulda, woulda, coulda...Didn't But the more scary thing is alot of new builds is that they're using extra fans and ventilation to "Blow away the toxic gases to prevent smoke Inhallation" But that will fan the fire?! How do you effectively vent the toxic air in a tunnel without fanning the flames of the fire?
Hmmmm... I'll take bets on how long you would drive a burning vehicle for if it ever happened to you. I'm calculating you would be at least 30 feet away from it within half a minute.
There's a movie I watched awhile ago called The Tunnel that reminded me of this. Though it takes place in Norway, lots of things brought Mont Blanc to mind. Also, when I was looking up similar tunnel disasters, I came across one that would make for an interesting episode. It's the Salang Tunnel disaster from Afghanistan.
I don't want to make broad generalizations about the Italians, but when he said they started pumping oxygen into the raging tunnel fire, I had to throw my hands up in disbelief. Why not throw kerosene on the flames to try and drown out the fire while you're at it?
Not they, he. A single operator in violation of fire protocols, who in distress at watching the pictures from inside the tunnel instinctively turned on the oxygen trying to help. He was trying to save ppl, not kill them, and was either not properly trained in the protocols (and why they exist) or forgot in the stress of the moment with devastating consequences. I dont think, theres anything, u can say, that he hasnt told himself repeatedly every day since then and will until the day he dies. And no, u should not make broad generalizations about the Italians. It was absolutely disgusting to see the US news, when Covid hit Italy, and how Americans were denigrating the Italians and the Italian healthcare system, when Italy actually has 1 of the best healthcare systems in the world, far better than the American, but was completely overrun by a new unknown and highly contageous disease with zero warning. Ppl make mistakes. I have, and so have u. The vast majority of the time our mistakes have little or no impact. Sometimes they are devastating. But its my mistake. Or ur mistake. Not the mistake of our entire country.
@@dfuher968 yea and the americans then proceeded to have one of the highest numbers of casualties. The italian government promptly closed the borders with china at the time iirc but unfortunately people traveling from there just stopped in another country and from there came to Italy anyway. In particular in my region (Veneto) the governor Luca Zaia took measures many found excessive that in the end saved thousands. He was the reason we were amongst the first to have enough masks for everyone and we're all grateful to him for this. Many of his rivals accused him of using the pandemic to get votes by broadcasting the news on the matter himself every day in an interview. Those rivals later ended up getting utterly curbstomped by him in the next regional elections with like 78% of votes (note that there are more than 2 candidates so normally the votes for a single candidate don't get much higher than 30% even in the best of cases).
@@user-qv4np3ur5w bruh I was just answering to Dfuher and agreeing on the fact that the way that american news denigrated Italy when the pandemic had just started was disgusting and provided some facts that help prove that point. And you saying i'm talking about americans when i almost exclusively talked about Italy and only mentioned americans mainly to make clear which part of the comment i was replying to makes me think that either you didn't read my comment well or you misunderstood it in some way or another
@@dfuher968 You're trying to make this about Americans and Covid for some reason (your odd agenda?), but that has nothing to do with this tragedy or the original post. Italy has been wracked with scandals and corruption for decades, in many ways the government is like a circus (with Silvio Berlusconi as the ringleader), so some criticism is warranted. And as you yourself point out, the staff managing the tunnel had insufficient or non-existent training for how to handle a fire, a rather basic scenario. This is not said with the benefit of hindsight, this was a very real, perfectly predictable event that should have been planned for (ex, what if two cars had collided and started a fire?), but as the narrator mentions, profit were put ahead of safety.
In my ADR training decade ago the trainer stated the Belgium truck driver should not have stopped. As the heat and flames are going in the opposite direction it is advised that you keep going until you are clear of the tunnel.
I was in Chamonix shortly after the tunnel was reopened. Everyone was upset about it, complaining about how it shouldn't have happened. You could still smell the fire when driving through the tunnel, charring everywhere, very sad, the tunnel is amazing as far as the engineering, even better now because of it.
I honestly wonder if those oxygen pumps where meant as a mercy in that 'nobody will ever admit it' sort of way. Like... this is grim to even type, but turning the tunnel & the too close survival rooms into an oven too hot to survive in under minutes instead of hours. That sort of terrifying choice I never, ever hope I'll need to even contemplate.
This reminds me of a local tragedy that happened in the early 80’s. The Caldecott tunnel fire killed at least a dozen people when the explosion of a fuel tanker turned the tunnel into an incinerator.
I was impressed with the speed of the French side. Degrave pulled his truck over at 10:53 and the first firefighters showed up at 10:59, that tells me that someone was on the ball there.
Man, im so jazzed to see hlw far your channel has come! Your content has only gotten better and we are all so greatful for all of your hard work to bring us all of this great content.
The lorry driver got a prison sentence even though there was nothing he could do. That reminds me of when Italy put a few geologists in jail because they had failed to prevent an earthquake from happening. They like to make scapegoats there.
My wonder is - before the smoke alarms were turned off, how many of those “false alarms” matched the previous truck fires that were put out right away by truck drivers?
I imagine the false alarms were caused by exhaust fumes when high traffic volumes were using the tunnel.
Three times longer than anything before; perhaps there was insufficient ventilation, the sensors were substandard, or the sensors had developed a fault through age/poor maintenance
Places I've lived have had fire alarms go off once every month or two, with not a single actual fire. This leads me to believe that fire alarms are shit and have many faults. Still, we're not able to disable the stupid thing, which is fair enough cos it's a safety thing, although domestic house fires are rare and not as dangerous as traffic tunnels. The Italians had no business switching off the alarms even if they went off a lot, it was up to them to check each false alarm, just in case. They had cameras.
Perhaps a better system could be used with more sensors including heat AND smoke detectors, heat detectors are much less likely to go off falsely. Have lots of detectors so that if only one goes off it can be ignored, and make it possible to switch off individual detectors rather than the entire system.
Also don't clad blocks of flats in flammable plastic.
@@greenaum I once lived in a student housing block that had heat detectors in the kitchens with a fire proof door that MUST be closed when cooking and then regular smoke detectors throughout the rest of the units. Their reasoning was that yeah uni students are probably gonna burn some food now and then and they didn't want the fire service coming out for every burnt piece of toast. But if for some reason a fire started elsewhere in the flat they wanted someone there asap. There were still problems with steam vents being too close to some of the heat detectors so we would be woken at 3am when the alarms would go off and we'd play a game of "whose flat is it?" Still better than if it was smoke detectors everywhere.
Probably none, since the 16 trucks fires that were documented were not considered false alarms, and I don't think there are undocumented ones since I highly doubt you could stop a truck on fire, extinguish it, and get going without anyone noticing.
Turning the alarms off obviously seems horrendously stupid in hindsight, but from my experience a seasoned crew would not turn off fire alarm devices unless they were extremely faulty to the point it's not even useful anymore, like a 100 falses alarms a day. And beginners wouldn't even dare touch it. Doesn't make it okay of course, just trying to give another perspective :/
@@empressmarowynn I mean, my university halls we had both the joy of a 3am fire alarm because someone decided to do a stir fry while drunk and hadn't closed the kitchen door like that.
And then the brilliance of a fire alarm in the pouring rain because someone actually had set their flats kitchen on fire.
I nearly choked when you said they started pumping in air to "clear the smoke." You would think these people would understand how fire works, but apparently not.
They're italians... These are the people that needed mustard gas to take over Ethiopia.
@@deaconstjohn4842 Tell me you don't understand basic fire knowledge without telling me you don't understand basic fire knowledge.
@@deaconstjohn4842 "durrr uhhh fire need oxygen to burn, uhhhg pump more oxygen to put out"
It actually makes a harsh, triage kind of sense to blow air *up* the tunnel ... when the space above the fire has been rendered completely unsurvivable. That's increasing survivability *below* the fire, which at this point is where all potential survivors are, and where firefighters and rescuers are working.
That's clearing the air and improving visibility where there are still saveable people and things, and blowing the heat and smoke to where there's already nobody and nothing left to save.
@@Tindometari but with the chance of, you know, causing an explosion or some other catastrophic event that would do just the same thing. I just don't know how they decided it was worth the risk.
Could you imagine how excited those workers must have been when they finally met in the middle? Like, how cool of a moment would that have been to witness?
I've seen videos of such events for other tunnels, including the Channel Tunnel. Always a momentous occasion, lots of celebrating, champagne, and so on. Especially when it's an international tunnel, like the Channel Tunnel or this one, as it is an international meeting.
Imagine they meet, and realise they're off-center by a few meters 🤣
@@velox__ you say that......would have happened 12km in from the English side,they got of course and it was cheaper to bury the boring machine then retrieve it and re align it
+James
The English side of the alps?
Hey, an “Imagine” comment!
I once was driving through the Eisenhower tunnel in Colorado and noticed that the truck in front of us had caught fire at the brakes likely due to the steep grade after the tunnel. I managed to flag him down and get him to pull over where we successfully extinguished the fire, but the whole time I was thinking of this story and how close it was to catching fire inside the tunnel. Always keep an extinguisher in your car.
The truck driver did have an extinguisher, it was just too much fire. They did tests afterwards, it turned out, that the speed of the truck actually kept the flames down, the moment, he stopped, it was too late, it just went all over. Sad part is, they calculated, that if he had continued through the tunnel, he couldve made it outside, b4 the fire became too much. Still, he couldnt have known, the normal action (as was done with all previous trucks catching fire in the tunnel, 15 or 16 I think) was to pull over and extinguish the fire.
I had a brake fire on my semi in Atlanta 9 years ago this week. I used two extinguishers with no effect. The whole trailer was engulfed within a few minutes.
The brake material combined with hot oil was able to strip the oxygen out of the CO2 canister I sprayed on it. Something about magnesium in the brakes and the freight bound for a Granger warehouse. Magnesium is difficult to extinguish.
If it's a small fire, fight it. But brake fires you should run from.
Good job man, you could have stopped a major incident.
The Eisenhower Tunnel is at the top of the grade, so any truck passing through it would have just been climbing. The steep descent is after they get out (regardless of direction). Regardless, the thought of fire in there always terrifies me. This is why they have hazardous cargo go over Loveland Pass - though I wonder if margarine would be considered "hazardous?" It has almost as much energy as diesel fuel, but we don't usually think about that. I'd think in any situation where something is on fire going through a tunnel, the best action wouldn't be to stop and fight it but to just press on and try to get out of the tunnel as quickly as possible, like Dfuher said.
Never stop a truck on fire in a tunnel. It's extremely important to make them clear it first due to this exact thing happening
I remember when this happened even though I'm in America. It was a significant international story. The biggest factor (which was apparently a surprise to the safety regulators at the time) was the ENORMOUS energy content of the margarine on board the truck. Margarine contains around 7 Calories or 29Kj of energy per gram. NINE TONS of margarine or 261 GIGAjoules of energy. That's equivalent to nearly 7,000 liters of diesel fuel (~1,800 gal). And that's not even taking into consideration the 12 tons of flour at 4 Calories per g or all the plastic packaging for everything which is basically just solid petroleum in terms of energy content. There was no choice but to simply let that much fuel and energy burn off before entering the tunnel.
Yeah, there were a lot of reclassifications after this horrible fire and changes in rules for transport.
Speaking of solid petroleum. People don't realize how terrifyingly flammable furniture is
@@Grognarthebarb My sister wants to put foam all over her room for streaming but the way our apartment is set up, had a fire started, she would be completely trapped. It's just screaming fire hazard and I am totally against it.
@@ingrid_inthesky I'd imagine there should be Fire retardant foam you can get but it would be more pricey I am pretty sure i have seen people hang sheets as a noise damper and echo prevention for streaming atleast in that situation they could be put up and taken down between uses and finally there's always software that filters echos and non voice things out i'd suggest pointing out how hard the foam is to put up and how ugly and non flexible/reusable it is for how hard it is to put up
I'd heard of this accident before and the energy of margarine, comparable with diesel fuel. Curious, while melting some margarine on the stove I deliberately dripped some on the burner to see if it would ignite. It wasn't dangerous or anything, but the size of the resulting flame relative to the tiny amount of margarine surprised me.
The security guard was a true hero, RIP fella.
Yeah for sure, what a fucking G, respect fr rip 🙏
Yes, I felt bad for everyone. But I felt extra bad for the guard and the firefighters. Such a horrible thing.
He may have failed in his mission, but that in no way detracts from his selfless act.
His courage is rightly remembered.
@@Gunners_Mate_Guns Failed? As in he was able to save everyone? Perhaps.
But there was at least 10 people in hospital still alive whom might've otherwise not have been who attributed their being saved "by the man on a motorcycle".
That's 10 lives whom otherwise might've perished too. That's a win right there.
Not ideal to enter a fiery tunnel on a motorcycle, but he had enormous balls. Absolutely a heroic attempt.
As soon as I heard that they were pumping oxygen into the tunnel, my stomach fell. What a mistake! An understandable one in a way, since they were trying to think about saving the people trapped in there, but oh so dumb. Anyone who deals with fires ought to know you don't add oxygen to a conflagration.
Damn shame to watch good intentions end up so poorly
At the very beginning of the video, he describes the fire as “turning [the tunnel] into an oven”, to which I immediately thought “more like a blast furnace”. Then I read this comment - I hadn’t known they’d literally turned it into a blast furnace! :(
The best option would be nitrogen, at least people would suffocate somewhat mercifully compared to being burned alive.
Could put the fires out with carbon dioxide too, but its an irritant and also an awful way to go.
What a bunch of clowns.
Whenever I've driven through that tunnel I've always thought of the poor souls who perished in there. Horrific way to go.
Such a pleasant thought !
😂🤣🤗😂🤣🤗😂🤣
The souls didn’t parish, the body perished.
@@rizzascollectibles3165 Yeah, having an argument with stranger is so much more important than remembering the dead and being respectful about it. 🙄 Nice ego you have there.
SuperAMJS - that's brave. I'd be nervous! But yes, I'd think of them every time as well. It's good to at least remember them, eh? 💜
For what it’s worth, tunnels the world over have had designs learning from this fire. Sealed, fireproof escape tunnels with entirely independent sources of air and power) in addition to the main tunnels are now the norm.
I'm amazed so many of the trapped fire fighters survived, what an unbearably horrific experience for them - as well as the motorbike hero
I was, too.
I used to be a commercial vehicle mechanic, one of our customers was due to be in the tunnel that day, and was caught up in the traffic near the tunnel entrance while the firefighting efforts were ongoing. He was making good time taking his curtainsider loaded with charcoal briquettes, fire lighters, disposable BBQs and fire starting fluid to be delivered to a retailers distribution center and was due to enter the tunnel about the same time the fire was first noticed. As luck would have it he had pulled over a little way before the tunnel due to suddenly feeling ill, quote; "I was incredibly hot, just burning up inside and short of breath like there was no air in the cab", not wanting to be in the tunnel feeling that way as there would not be anywhere to stop he took 5 mins at the side of the road to walk around the truck a couple of times and the feeling apparently passed as quickly as it had come so he brushed it off as being caused by whatever service station food he had eaten earlier and he set off again, only to be stopped with the other traffic within view of the tunnel entrance.
We all thought it was a weird but lucky coincidence as he told the story to those of us sat in the office on lunch break, but then he told us how the previous owner of the truck had owned a pair of identical trucks and had actually died when the cab heater in one had caught fire while he was asleep in it, the fire destroyed the entire front half of the truck the owner was in and damaged the rear half of the other truck, in order to get some money back for his widow the trucks were dismantled and the good rear of the burnt out truck was used to replace the burned rear of the good truck. That good truck was the one our customer then bought and ran for quite a while before the incident, he says he was never superstitous before but he is sure that someone or something was looking out for him on that day - I'm not really superstitious either but sometimes I think he might be right. I can't imagine how much worse the situation could have been if 20 odd tons of stuff that's supposed to be easy to light and burn for hours had been involved in the incident too.
What a chilling story! I'm so glad he did take a quick break!
I'm not even slightly superstitious, but I have shivers while reading this. That man was not meant to die that day, and the previous owner had his back.
Or he just wanted a break and some nice fresh air before going into an 11.6km tunnel, and then changed his story for either attention or unknowingly altered his memory of the reason why he took a break after hearing of the fire. He probably wouldn't even have made it into the tunnel without the 5 minute break.
My mom's boyfriend's cousin was driving a load of c-4, gasoline, propane, and nuclear bombs that day, and would have been in the tunnel if he hadn't stopped to look for four-leaf-clovers on the side of the road.
@@user-ellievator lol. I know. Reading the OP I was waiting 'and 300 boxes of kindling and some marshmellows'
While I get what they were going for when they started to pump air in- after all, attempting to make the air more breathable is a good intention- I can't help but wonder if someone at some point was like 'why are we doing this, it's just going to make it worse'
The people who made the decisions to pump in air should be punished as well for such extreme act of negligence in this incident, if they weren't already been.
My shock was that they know air/oxygen feeds a fire and in house fires etc, they always say close doors and don't open a door to a room that's on fire (if you can help it) because it will create a fire ball due to the oxygen rushing into the room. So, I'm a bit judgemental here ... then again, I don't know the physics they probably thought they were dealing with.
Sounds like a management decision. People who know nothing and have zero practical experience. More than likely someone did call it out, but was ignored.
It was actually against the fire protocols, but the operator on duty in a distressed state at the pictures on his surveillance screens either wasnt properly trained or simply forgot due to the stressful situation, I dont remember which. I do remember, that it was not a management order as JJ claims, it was a single person making a terrible mistake with the best intentions, just trying to help.
@@dfuher968 Perhaps he thought it was "just the truck" burning, not knowing it's flammable cargo, and that the fuel for the fire should've been burned out by that time. Hard to say, but that seems a logical (though terribly wrong) decision at the time.
7:24 -- Nothing quite so uniquely sucky as when the type of dude who'd give their life for a stranger actually does die. If anyone deserves to make it, man, it's them. :( RIP
Rescue efforts were also hampered because authorities couldn't decide who was in charge, if it was the French side or Italian side. Crazy, as you would think, just do everything to put the fire out.
You'd also think they'd have discussed and agreed on how to handle such situations before they opened up the tunnel to traffic.
Frankly, they shouldn't have given a damn about whose side it was on, its in their tunnel.
This was at least dealt with after the fire. There are very clear command lines now.
Unfortunately that kind of conflict is all too common a factor when it comes to mass casualty events.
Unfortunately someone needs to be in charge, and decide what direction to fight the fire from. On a tunnel you have to blow air in one side and smoke out the other, meaning someone had to decide which direction to attack from. Had the fire not been near the centre of the tunnel, that decision would be a lot easier.
This incident was in news in the UK a few days ago. Tory minister Jacob Reese Mogg was complaining about safety signs in Dartford tunnel that were introduced following the Mont Blanc fire.
Excellent video.
Have you got a link to his report about the Dartford Tunnel please?
Let me guess he was complaining it cost “too much” money for the additional safety messages and precautions and said it was an example of the evil eu overreach hurting profits for companies?
JRM aka the Haunted Pencil is an absolute cretin of the highest order.
@@jonmel it was more trivial than that but a massive issue for Jacob. An EU directive was issued after the MB fire to place signs a set distance from the exits at either end. Jacob thought it was ridiculous that when translated from metres to yards as used in the UK it looked like an odd number. So he cited it as a benefit of having left the EU that we could change it or remove it. He hadn't thought about just moving it until it became a round number or even putting more signs in. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter as long as the sign is there.
Good ol' JRM. The man is a money hungry monster.
In 2000, less than year after this I was on a bus that passed through the alternate route for this tunnel and there was a image of a man on a motorcycle with lots of names on plaques. Passengers on the bus asked the driver about it (we were all not from Europe) and he told us this story as we sat in traffic.
Bit like a cruise ship showing _Titanic_ while they cross the north Atlantic.
@@N.I.R.A.T.I.A.S. I've been on a cruise that goes through the Bermuda triangle, and has a "ghost stories" night right before they enter it.
@@N.I.R.A.T.I.A.S. yeah disaster tourism
Oh my God what sadist was that bus driver
@@zurirobinson2749 So it's sadistic to inform curious foreigners about something terrible that happened in your history? Since when? At least they know.
We have a similarily long tunnel near my hometown (OK, it's "only" ~10km long). There have been two big fires basically back-to-back a few years ago; a crane and a bus that started burning in the middle of the tunnel. Also due to lessons learned from the Mont Blanc fire, noone was seriously injured in both cases.
It makes me happy when we learn from our mistakes!
@@Mrsjam96 almost every safety rule and regulation are written in blood
@@aoki6332 sooo true!
Not a patch on the Birkenhead Tunnel, the Queensway Tunnel 1936, is an engineering marvel of the modern world, our grandad smashed his way over to Liverpool and watched King George 6th say Hooray!
How did the crane catch fire? Cranes are made pretty much all of metal. Was it an electrical short?
What on earth did they charge the driver with? If the entire cab was on fire, what did they expect him to do? Seems like they used him as a scapegoat.
yeah that definitely wasn't the mistake of the driver imo
i was thinking the same too, only thing i can think is, that he may not of reported it?
Yepp
I was thinking maybe he hadn't inspected his truck thoroughly, but then at the end of the video it was said that it's unclear how the fire started. So yeah wtf.
I mean he knew his vehicle was smoking and drove deeper into the tunnel, if he had stopped further up on the French side I bet there would have been fewer cavities. The video said he stopped at the bottom, effectively ensuring both sides of the tunnel would fill with smoke, screwing over both sides at an attempt rescue people or fight the fire.
The charges could have been more for the incompetence of continuing deeper into the tunnel which made the situation worse.
Excellent summary as usual, but Im surprised, u didnt mention the appaling decision on the French side to continue to let cars enter the tunnel for several minutes, AFTER the fire alarm had sounded. The Italian operator, who turned on the oxygen with the best of intentions, made a horrible mistake, acting against the fire protocols, tho he likely was in a panicked state. But at least the Italian side was closed for traffic, as soon as they were aware of the fire. Whoever on the French side decided NOT to close the tunnel immidiately certainly made a mistake on the same scale, as noone from the cars let in during those minutes survived, they all went into the tunnel and ended up caught in a queue with not enough room to turn around (as the motorists on the Italian side did), and most didnt even make it out of their cars.
When put on the spot, it can be difficult to know the right thing. maybe he thought smoke would kill more people than fire, which is usually true.
@@standupstraight9691 protocol
It's impossible to imagine the horror in the tunnel. I suffer from claustrophobia but only when underground and this is one of my worst nightmares.
I’m afraid of tunnel an if I have to go though one when someone is driving I just close my eyes till we are out
I took one look and decided I’d rather drive the extra 2 hours on the roads with the hairpin switchbacks… Tunnels? Nope. I can’t handle an MRI - even with an open machine!
Claustrophobia hits me in the wierdest ways: Elevator? You'll see me climb up 80 flights of stairs if I have the choice. compact tunnel? ABSOLUTELY HELL TO THE BIGGEST NAW. Aircraft? Sign me up I wanna ride in that box!
@@airplanemaniacgaming7877
Actually, it’s funny that I’m okay with airplanes, too, for the most part. And if I start to get “itchy”, I can make it work by turning on the air just a bit. Don’t know why that helps, but it does. 🤷🏼♀️ As for elevators, it varies with me. But there can’t be more than a certain number of people with lots of space. I’ll wait a LONG time for an emptier car or, if too many people get on from lower floors, I’ll get off there and wait for an emptier one. I’d do the stairs if it was from a low enough floor and my knees allowed me… That used to be my MO.
@@Lucinda_Jackson Wierd part is, my times i've gone up have been in Royal Canadian Air Cadet gliders and my first time ever going up in a plane was in the tow plane because the winds that day were too high for gliders lol. much smaller than say, a passenger aircraft.
Tunnels are dangerous.
I'll throw out the Gotthard tunnel fire/collision in 2001 as well, the 1942 Balvano train disaster as well as other examples of tunnel disasters.
Also the Chunnel has had its disasters too
EDIT: Also 9 tons of margarine, 12 tons of flour. That's basically a bomb being hauled in a fridge trailer, the chemical makeup of margarine means when it burns, you have a problem...
Burnley Tunnel, Melbourne. 2007 accident and fire.
Clayton Tunnel disaster 1861
what about that tunnel in Independence Day
Also Jace, flour is more flammable than petrol when in large quantities also which I guess you were alluding to too. I worked in a Bakery and the UK authorities say you have 2 mins to evacuate in a fire but the place went up in seconds. I was told this by colleagues who were there at the time which was a few months or so before I worked there.
@@simonbutterfield4860 Flour is. Flour on its own is bad, margarine on its own is bad, put them together...
I can't find anything if at that point in time they neded a hazmat sticker on the trailer and I totally and utterly believe that bakery story given how many dust explosions/fires have come up over the years. Two minutes to get out, that's way way too long. You got flour and oxygen, and a spark, you basically got a fireball right from the get go. That being said I'm curious though if the refridgerated trailer would have had an impact on how dangerous the flour itself is, I need to check with someone who hauls 20 ton fridge trailers and knows how they operate.
I'd need to find it but in one of the documentaries it was pointed out stopping meant there was no air flow to keep the flames from spreading, I don't know if that'd have changed anything though, there was a fire extinguisher on board but once the cab went up and the flames got to the diesel tank there was nothing to be done.
After so many months of Following 'Fascinating Horror' video's ... This Narrator NEVER FAILS to properly phrase with proper emphasis ... video after video !!!
He is an EXCELLENT Speaker !!!
That’s my guy Kristian. I don’t know why he doesn’t try to put his name out more. He’s truly one of the best in the biz!
While looking at photos of this tunnel, I learned that the Italian for "exit" is "uscita" - which sounds exactly like an Italian who just realised the tunnel's on fire.
Lmfao
😜
???? Your teacher is wrong! If an Italian finds out the tunnel is on fire they'll shout "al fuoco" or "c'è un incendio" 😊 "uscita" is also in cinemas and all public buildings, on fire or not! Which is good, as usually you know how to go in but not how to get out, and often people are not precise when giving directions 😂
Btw, I am Italian 🤣
@@cristinalivi-harris3267 No.. he means Uscita sounds like "oh shit-a"
@@cristinalivi-harris3267 whoosh...
I'm certainly no expert but I cant believe nobody screamed to stop before they flooded the tunnels with fresh air.
Coz it was a single person, an operator on the Italian side, who did it on his own in violation of the fire protocols. In the distress of the pictures from inside the tunnel he simply panicked and instinctively turned on the oxygen trying to help ppl. A horrible mistake with the best intention and a devastating outcome, that he has to live with for the rest of his life.
I loved tunnels as a kid, but the incidents at Mont Blanc and Kaprun made we aware that tunnels can be dangerous AF.
I had zero thought of it when i rode through mont blanc tunnel in 1994 as a 12 year old with my grandparents
Kaprun was so so sad. First they had so much difficulty getting out of the train, and then almost all of them walked up. I never did understand, why they did that, every1 knows, smoke goes up, thats why u have to crawl along the floor out of a smoke filled building. But I guess, it was simple panic, and they did have to go past the flames to go down to safety.
Once again a video of a well known tragedy that I have seen done many times. But yours was chock full of more details that I have never heard before. I never skip one of your pieces no matter how familiar the subject matter as I always know that I will learn something new.
I actually had never heard of this one. Pretty horrific.
9:42 What was the truck driver deemed guilty of? His truck caused the disaster, but as far as is said in the video he didn't do anything wrong. He had no evidence of anything amiss until he was already in the tunnel, and once aware his truck was on fire did the best he could to address the situation. I'd think he would have been better to keep driving, try to get out of the tunnel as quickly as possible, rather than stopping to try to fight the fire, but that was at worst a mistake rather than negligence or any other guilty action. He already has to live with the guilt of this for the rest of his life, even if he wasn't at fault. Really he, like all the victims who died, was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I had the same thought. The only thing I could imagine that would make him culpable is if they deemed he didn't adequately attempt to extinguish the flame before retreating. That is purely speculation though as I don't know anything about the case or the laws in those countries. I'm glad they gave him a suspended sentence though. He certainly did not deserve jail time for this. I'm sure he was quite frightened when he saw the truck go up in flames. I can only imagine how much more terrible it became when he saw the scene play out as it did.
And the cause of the fire was determined to be a cigarette that someone else threw away and got sucked into his air filter. He had no part in that. It would be nice to know what he was convicted of.
Investigators accuse Mr Degrave of abandoning his lorry when he realised it was on fire, rather than backing it into one of the emergency bays.
Mr Degrave said yesterday the vehicle was too long to manoeuvre into the space. He said: "I did the only thing possible. And I wasn't to know the controllers weren't watching their video screens or the alarm wouldn't be given."
I thought the same: it was a HUGE mistake to stop in the middle of the tunnel by FREE WILL instead of driving out the truck until it is still able to MOVE!!! I think the fire was kept at low level by the wind caused by the moving vehicle. As soon as it stopped (by the driver...) there was no more cooling effect, so the fire was able to burst out. I think he should have kept guilty for this bad, very bad decision....
I too was wondering this. It’s not the driver fault his vehicle caught fire and he did try to tackle it.
I find it frustrating that "nothing has gone wrong so far" is often seen as proof that nothing will go wrong. Previously, sixteen trucks had caught fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel, so truck fires were clearly a possibility. The fact that those sixteen truck fires were contained by their drivers was apparently seen as evidence that the system worked and nothing needed to be added. Common sense dictates that at some point a driver would fail to extinguish a truck fire, yet no additional safety measures had been instituted.
Yeah I always get frustrated at that attitude too.
"Oh we've never had an accident."
"I know we haven't, I want it to stay that way."
A tunnel fire under a mountain in complete darkness? F***ing yikes. Something I'll be thinking of throughout my day. Thanks Fascinating Horror!
Your research is impeccable. Is it wrong of me to say that I love these videos?
I agree. This channel is the best that the Tuesdays have to offer.
If wrong, then who needs being right?
There is nothing wrong with that.
it is indeed "fascinating horror". I get what you mean, I often wonder why I enjoy these so much (brilliantly researched, presented, narrated etc) - I often feel sickened not only at waste of life, but horrific way to die - however at least in most cases, tragedy has led to redesigns, basic safety features & measure that have saved so many more lives.
If it is then I’m very wrong - these videos not only help me learn more about history and safety protocols but FH also does it in an unbiased way. These videos are also well researched and if there’s anything he missed, someone in the comments will probably post more info about it.
Absolutely chilling. I have read a few accounts, but you really tied it together.
I had never really thought about the fact that truck drivers can't turn around in tunnels and are essentially locked in for whatever happens. I guess then if you're in an emergency like this in a car that can turn around, might be the time to grab as many stranded truckers as you can fit in your vehicle and bail them out of there with you.
The fireman that rode through on his motorbike to help others was the true definition of an hero. That word is thrown about to freely these days and people are hailed heroes for doing no more than overcoming a mild illness.
That man new he was driving into a death trap to save strangers and died horrifically for it.
He was a security guard from the Italian side.
@@chrisbfreelance my mistake , he was very brave. RIP
He really was stunning and brave, except in a real sense, not a fake woke one.
I know the name “Mont Blanc” as the ammunition ship that was struck by the “Imo” in Halifax Harbor in 1917. 20 minutes later the Mont Blanc exploded and leveled the city. You did an excellent video on it last year
Ok
The Mont-Blanc (no need to pronounce the final -t and -c) is the highest mountain in Europe, before to be this ship (what also was an horrible event)
That was was actually insane, it was a sizeable fraction of the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan, imagine power of that magnitude
Having seen drivers removing hazchem stickers from trailers in order to avoid having to wait for the dangerous goods convoy with escort through the Dartford Tunnel which is a baby tunnel compared to MB, it makes you wonder how many others do this at MB, and other tunnels.
Not knocking all waggon drivers, just the minority few who want to risk an incident just to save a few minutes.
I sincerely hope you reported them. That is a potential disaster just waiting to happen.
We all like to talk about how the Bermuda Triangle and lava and quicksand turned out to be less of an everyday worry than we thought they would be as kids... Fascinating Horror is always here to remind us that, while those things prob won't trouble us any time soon, preeeeetty much everything else around us is definitely capable of killing us, no questions asked.
When I was a kid, I was afraid of ghosts and demons. Now that I’m an adult, I’m just scared the building could collapse on me at any moment.
Having encountered quicksand, I assure you while uncommon it is indeed horrifying.
But as a mining engineer,,the rest of this is even more horrifying!
@@alexn5743 Well THAT second sentence turned this from 99 to 200% REAL fast!
My mum worries about the virus. Me, I worry about the asbestos fencing on one side of my yard.
@@alexn5743 . Quicksand exists?
Couple things.
Fire spread mostly because of the flour and margarine in the truck and the fresh oxygen mainly spread the cyanide-filled smoke through the tunnel.
Most of the victims couldn't drive off or away because engines require oxygen to start.
But yeah, great doc 👍
Yes, I was wondering why those in cars didn't simply turn back the way they'd come (and take any stranded truck drivers along with them) when they realised that the tunnel ahead was impassable. This explains it.
@@rich_edwards79 and you need to remember that in most case people will just wait and once its to late (when the Co2 is starting to come) they realize that they should leave but either cant move around or are already poisoned be co2
How do you consistently make videos this good? I love every single one. Keep up the good work.
I am a firefighter, I watch your videos for reference. Unfortunately our current SOPs on unfortunate incidents we learn from previous incidents. Thank you for all your hard work. It is appreciated.
RIP Spadino, he was a simple man who enjoyed riding but when the disaster happened he stepped up and saved many lives at the cost of his own. His BMW bike was melted to the ground. Bikers still ride up in tribute and memory of their fallen brother till this day
Hey Fascinating Horror, you’ve made the big time! My brother lives in another state and we’re not very close and we got together last weekend and by sheer coincidence he mentioned watching one of your videos!! I was like whattttt no way! 🙌🏼😃
I cannot believe they pumped air in. It was 1999. ALL of us watching know how that was going to go. I'm just so sorry. This is awful. It happened just 3 weeks before my youngest son was born. =/ So, so sorry. Thanks for helping us be aware of these. Your research is appreciated. xx
Yeah, it was an operator on the Italian side, who made a terrible mistake, just trying to help, and forgot the protocols, and why the protocols existed. I dont agree with those, who want him punished. He has to live with that for the rest of his life, that is more than enough punishment. He was trying to save ppl, not kill them.
What does 1999 have to do with it? They would have known that to be a bad idea in 1899.
@@dfuher968 or he was trying to kill people! You don’t know what he was thinking! If your mistakes lead to death of people! Then it’s Negligent Homicide!! Unless intent is proven!!!
@@SpicyTexan64 Because they knew more about how fire worked in 1999 as opposed to 1899. Science and its advancement, dude. They'd not long figured out cholera was not caused by miasma. The sciences were all still in their infancy.
@@dfuher968 Yeah. I think people were facing something that was so horrible they probably weren't thinking straight. We do weird stuff when in shock. I agree with you.
I feel like the initial lorry driver wasn't at fault. Anyone know why it was decided to charge him? He tried to extinguish his vehicle, but had to retreat to save his own life. I expect he raised the alarm after getting out of the tunnel, which is all he really could have done, no? I always worry that whoever happens to be at the center of poorly managed systems falling apart gets blamed and ends up having their life and reputation even more ruined than a tragedy already deal them, but maybe there's more to it. Anyone know?
French law kind of weird in assigning liability. Someone HAS to be found to blame. After the Concorde crash a mechanic for Continental Airlines was convicted of manslaughter because a piece of metal trim from the plane he had worked on was found on the runway and might have caused or contributed to the accident.
@@thatfathipo2252 the guy said "French law" do you even know if this kind of thing happens anywhere else in europe
It's Europe. Every accident or tragedy has to have someone be punished or scapegoated.
@@machintelligence which is BS because it became well known the Concorde couldn't handle FOD or its own tires blowing out.
He was charged with not stopping in an emergency bay were the lorries that then got stuck behind him might have passed him.
It makes you realise that something like this could happen to anyone at anytime its basically how lucky you happen to be.
The sad part of this accident is that, theoretically, if the driver had kept going until he reached the Italian side, the fire wouldnt have erupted the way it did. Studies on other vehicle fires show that once the vehicle stops moving, it can better take in oxygen to grow. If the driver hadnt stopped until he exited the tunnel, it's likely the accident wouldnt have happened.
For sure, most likely a high pressure fuel leak creating a mist, the white 'smoke' from under the cab. The moment you stop is the moment the airflow under the cab changes and it catches on fire on the hot exhaust and boom, trucks suddenly on fire.
I for one do not believe the cigarette/air filter story, when a simple mechanical failure explains what happened.
@@AlexanderBurgers That was what I was thinking exactly. I've had the very same thing happen to me a couple times over the years driving trucks. The theorie about the cigarette at the end is laughable. That's about the most far fetched thing I've heard in my life
I’ve had a small truck fire from a brake binding on, just slightly rubbing over the course of around 25 miles.
I couldn’t feel the drag, the truck was old and the suspension as sloppy and rattly as you’d expect.
Heard a little squeak as I slowed to manoeuvre into a loading bay, opened the door and as I climbed out a flame shot up out of the brakes below me and disappeared almost immediately.
Not wanting to take a chance with it I jumped back in and moved it into a car park, the biggest clear area I could get to and called 999
When the firefighters turned up there was nothing going on visibly, they used a laser temperature probe on the wheel and tyre and found that the tyre was burning on the inside and temperature was steadily increasing.
They had to hose it down for 30 mins to get it cold enough to stop the fire, if it had been left a few minutes more the heat would’ve increased the pressure to the point of blow out.
And if he hadn't made it and this all still happened, they would have charged him for not stopping sooner.
How many times have we heard the threatening complacence of "there's never been an accident/injury/death before?"
I have seen other documentaries on this disaster but, as always, you give far more information about the incident and its causes are outstanding. Burning to death is absolutely the worst way to die in my opinion. Although some died before they even knew it, the rest must have thought they could escape until they realized they were going to die. And it all happened to them in the dark. How horrible.
Inhaling smoke is mostly what kills them. The burning happens later when they don't feel a thing, so cheer up!
This is truly horrific. Driving through tunnels has always made me nervous due to the confined space and difficulty that could arise in the event escape becomes necessary. This will certainly add to that anxiety. Of course, where would this video be without the quote that summarizes the basis for all your content: "Safety was not an area that was considered a priority." That ideology always comes as a bit of a surprise to me but sadly it is so prevalent. At least the safety oversights weren't quite as glaring as so many other incidents. At least they had built in rooms to shelter from fire - even if they weren't entirely effective. I'm a little surprised that the driver was found guilty. I'm really not sure what more he could have done. I suppose it may have come down to the fact that he could have made a greater effort to extinguish the fire before abandoning the vehicle. Such a terrible tragedy this was. Great work on the video as usual.
RIP the 29 victims including that security guard was a true hero.
1000 degrees C is so freaking hot. I was watching a video about space last night and some stars are 1000 degrees C. Sure that's not considered a very hot star, but holy hell it's still a star and that's how hot it was inside that tunnel with people in it.
Very surprised but so pleased to see a video in english about my county. I'm living in the city where took place the jugdement. The Mont-Blanc tunnel fire still is a bleeding wound in the heart of people living here.
Thank you !
What's the point in suing the driver? He tried to fight the fire as soon as he noticed it, only to be pushed back by the flames. What was he supposed to do? Burn to death?
The way the Narrator tells it the Driver did NOT immidiately stop to try and check on the fire when he was made aware of it. He kept driving on for several minutes, going deeper into the tunnel. And after failing to fight the fire it seems he ran all the way out of the tunnel, without stopping at an emergency phone to immidiately call it in.
@@dyamonde9555 No, he was pushed back by the flames, that flared up, the moment he stopped. His extinguisher did not help at all. He was picked up by a car from the Italian side, that was almost by the truck, but managed to turn around and make it out of the tunnel. If they had stopped, they wouldve died too. Also, he did stop, as soon as he noticed smoke as distinguished from exhaust.
Add to that, all previous truck fires in the tunnel had been dealt with by the truck drivers. When they noticed fire or were made aware by oncoming cars, they stopped and used their extinguisher. He had no reason to think, that wouldnt work.
They did tests afterwards getting to the origins of the fire. Thats how they came to the conslusion of a lit cigarette being thrown into the air intake. They concluded, that the fire was started, but hidding, when the truck entered the tunnel, and smoke only became visible, as the truck drove further into the tunnel. The really sad part is, that they determined, that the airflow generated by the speed of the truck actually kept the fire somewhat at bay, and the moment, the driver (and the airflow) stopped, the flames roared, and the driver never had a chance of extinguishing it. The ppl in the car, that picked him up, witnesses this, thats why they yelled at him to jump in, while they were turning the car around. Ive seen an interview with the driver of that car. They barely made it out.
@@dfuher968 Interesting. Thanks for the additional information
This is one of the disasters I heard about that has stuck with me the longest. People died simply because they chose the wrong direction and nothing more. That firefighter who led them the right (long) way out was sheer good fortune that he was there.
Sounds like, ur talking about the Kaprun fire.
@@dfuher968 Yeah, that what it sounds like.
@@zacharyrollick6169 ^yeah I agree as well that's Kaprun
@@ariahazelwood3842 Sounds like it, though at Kaprun it wasn't the longer way, it was the way downhill towards and past the fire that led to safety.
Thanks very much for the wonderful and informative content you bring.
Thank you for another fantastic upload x
It strikes me that the tunnel was a disaster waiting to happen. The Italians couldn't have cared less about safety, and this proved it. Add to this the fact that the tunnel was just *ONE LANE* each, making it quite narrow, and you have more (dare I say it) fuel for the fire. Then comes the thing of smoking. I had never considered the prospect that a lit cigarette may somehow go into the air intake of a truck, but it now seems likely that this is what caused the disaster. Now add in that the truck driver ignored the smoke until too late, and you have all the ingredients for a disaster!
I don't think the truck driver deserved any real punishment - he got a 4 month suspended prison sentence - but he should have been seriously concerned about the smoke. I used to drive trucks up to 12 pallets, Bendy / Articulated buses, and 14.5 metre coaches for a living, so I know something about big vehicles and danger...
So far, as I read the comments, you are the only one to mention the most probable cause of the fire -- the fact that smokers seem to view the entire world as their ashtray. It almost makes me hope that lung cancer got the butt flicker in the end.
I can't stand it when I see a car in front of me throwing a lit cigarette from their window. It's bad enough to do it on a normal road but in a tunnel is absolute stupidity.
@@erynlasgalen1949 Simple! I took notice of what was said in the video and thought about it, taking into account my years with buses and trucks. Thanks for your positive comment! 🙂
@@ismayb754 Exactly! If governments didn't make so much in taxation from it, they'd ban it!!!
A truly frightening story. The fact that this tragedy occurred so far into the tunnel and oxygen being pumped into the tunnel while the fire was burning, made this even more tragic
Thank you for bringing us such well researched and presented videos! At the same time, I can imagine having to do so much research into things like this can take a toll, so please if you ever need to take a break don't feel guilty
One of the most curious results of the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire is the specialised fire fighting vehicle, BAI Janus 4000 BI-fronte. It has two cabins, one on each end of the truck, and it can drive in both directions at a speed of 120 km/h, eliminating the need to reverse or attempt a U-turn, which might be outright impossible in the confined space of a road tunnel. Some other manufacturers have also copied this design, allowing for faster response or retreat by the fire fighters.
Wow, I'm going to look this up! Thanks!
In 1999, the Kingsway Tunnel in Liverpool was inspected by the European Union after the fire, with all the measures in place, the tunnel was rated 'good'.
OMG! I worked on a parallel tunnel to the Mont Blanc, designed and built precisely because of this tragedy; that was actually why I went to Europe my first time. I am fan of this channel and a case had never hit so close to me. Thanks for covering it!!!
I think of this disaster whenever I think of Elon musk's stupid hyper loop (or whatever its called) tunnel. I saw a video of what it's like inside and there is literally no space to open car doors. It's a death trap waiting to happen.
The Las Vegas tunnel isn´t an hyperloop, but it is more or less the same type of scam.
How dare you critisize Electric Jesus! Mr Tesla! What the actual?
@@kylebutler7142 are you fr 😭
So we should never try to advance as a fear of disaster? It doesn’t make sense. This truck driver is 100% at fault not the tunnel.
@@clowndollbitch Nah I get the feeling that was sarcasm. But you see that kind of thing a lot, logical criticism of an idea will be met with Elon simps touting his ideas as gospel.
Ironically it was this documentary that led me down a whole heap of rabbit holes to form possibly the most passionate view I have ever had; that is that seed oils have been the biggest disaster over the last 100 years and these toxic sludges must be banned.
When you mentioned the truck was carrying margarine, I felt something was amiss. What is a “vegetable oil” were lubricant/machine oils over 100 years ago. Makes sense that these oils were responsible for the worst tunnel disaster in history!
It's this tunnel fire that makes you wonder why Elon Musk is even bothering with his own tunnel. Once you've seen how cramped his proposed tunnel idea is, you already know that it doesn't even need the fatal decision of pumping oxygen into it that will already cause so many fatalities there if a fire were ever to start.
Prob be exetemely hard for a fore to start anyhow inside that type of tunnel. Seeing as how's its suppose to be a vacuuum chamber. No air or oxygen in it to burn.
@@biohazardlnfS Elon is, right now, building tunnels which are even worse than the normal ones and are packed full with extremely flamable cars. I hope they close it down before it gets featured on this channel.
@@biohazardlnfS Guessing he's referring to the Las Vegas tunnel. The one where cars drive in it, and which is too narrow to open the doors of said cars outside of the stations.
Not to mention they’re filled with Teslas which are kind of famous for having deadly fires
@@kain0m Oh wow. I could already tell the guy only thought he was smart, but that is next level kind of dumb. How did any self-respecting engineer end up signing off on that?
My first episode of seconds from disaster was on this incident, i was 12 yesrs old when i saw it and for 3 years i had a fear of tunnels because of it, im over it now but i remember how shocking that episode was and the things that went wrong. Absolutely horiffic accident
This story makes me terrified of driving in an underground tunnel.
Or underwater tunnel
We had something similar in the San Francisco Bay Area in the Caldecott Tunnel when a gasoline tanker was involved in an accident. A fireball ensued and the trapped motorists were killed. The death toll was kept down to 7, as the accident occurred late at night.
I remember that! Another horrific story! I think of it every time I go through that tunnel. Luckily it’s fairly short! But. Going under SF Bay on BART gives me the willies. Imagine the BIG ONE happening, and you’re stuck under the bay!
Well done on your outstanding production quality and respect for the disasters. One I think you should have a look at is the whiddy harbour disaster.
Agreed, add Buttevant rail crash to that. (and possibly Gorey rail crash too?)
I love that you provide us with these lesser known stories. Kudos.
I think I saw this story either here or a similar channel less than a few months ago? Is it a re-upload?
@@igitha..._ you might be thinking of his video on the Kaprun Disaster?
And this here, this right here is why people criticize Teslas moving in narrow, long, underground tunnel with no option to open doors.
agreed. that is paramount to criminal negligence, and i think Elon (ands his idiotic mindless drone fans) need to get a clue and realize how much danger his tunnels present to people that may use them (if they are dumb enough to even consider it in the first place, sorry to say) but yeah, a nice oversight like not being able to open the car doors is something of a major flaw in what's essentially a flame from hell type of vehicle....
Pumping air into a fire to get rid of smoke was a HORRENDOUS mistake!!
Nobody was like "hey this is a bad idea"
@@coffeemakerbottomcracked I feel it was like a spur of the moment thing. Too desperate to think straight if you know what I mean.
That security gaurd was a G, a true hero rip🙏
F for respect for sure
You are so thorough with your stories. I really appreciate the work you put into every episode.
The security guard was a true hero. RIP
Safety was overlooked and too many vehicles were allowed to enter. And pumping air into the tunnel was a huge mistake.
I was on a coach in this tunnel but at a standstill only a short distance inside when we noticed smoke pouring out of the sides. It caught fire and we were evacuated really fast. The response was rapid and thankfully no one was hurt. We had heard about previous fires in the tunnel but I can’t imagine this kind of horror. RIP to everyone on that terrible day.
I feel like the lory driver shouldn't have been charged. Unless there's some information missing in the video, none of what happened was his fault. He did try to stop the fire, and only fled because he realized he didn't have the tools to do so.
Totally agree
I believe it was because he knew the truck had an issue earlier and didn't stop before it got out of hand
I think he bares some responsibility for willingly transporting that much dangerous cargo. I don’t think he should have been charged either but, unfortunately, drivers in these cases are the easiest sacrificial lamb
@@NKP723 depends if they considered that cargo HazMat...
His vehicle was the cause of the fire, he didn't stop right away when a issue was brought to light, and fires in vehicles are often caused by lack of maintenance such as an oil or gas leak onto a hot engine.
They pumped in as they call it "fresh air"…fresh air is oxygen …oxygen
feeds/fuels fires. You learn that in 1st grade!
Nothing like panic to short circuit the brain.
Unfortunately very true!
I remember having discussions about this when it happened and we all agreed that the driver shouldn't have stopped his truck in the tunnel. Yes the trucks on fire, but its not that bad, just keep going!, increase speed if possible, but just keep the truck moving and out of the tunnel. Once clear, then get out and run like hell!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but shoulda, woulda, coulda...Didn't
But the more scary thing is alot of new builds is that they're using extra fans and ventilation to "Blow away the toxic gases to prevent smoke Inhallation"
But that will fan the fire?!
How do you effectively vent the toxic air in a tunnel without fanning the flames of the fire?
Hmmmm... I'll take bets on how long you would drive a burning vehicle for if it ever happened to you. I'm calculating you would be at least 30 feet away from it within half a minute.
I was waiting for this episode since I know the channel !
I live in the region, and we all remember this total tragedy.
A tragic story I had heard of🙁 😢
Driving through any tunnel reminds me of this story.
There's a movie I watched awhile ago called The Tunnel that reminded me of this. Though it takes place in Norway, lots of things brought Mont Blanc to mind.
Also, when I was looking up similar tunnel disasters, I came across one that would make for an interesting episode. It's the Salang Tunnel disaster from Afghanistan.
You could do an episode just on Afghanistan alone.
Absolute madness they would think that fresh air would be a good idea to pump in...
I watch your ads cause your content is my comfort, and your channel is my favorite.
I don't want to make broad generalizations about the Italians, but when he said they started pumping oxygen into the raging tunnel fire, I had to throw my hands up in disbelief. Why not throw kerosene on the flames to try and drown out the fire while you're at it?
Not they, he. A single operator in violation of fire protocols, who in distress at watching the pictures from inside the tunnel instinctively turned on the oxygen trying to help. He was trying to save ppl, not kill them, and was either not properly trained in the protocols (and why they exist) or forgot in the stress of the moment with devastating consequences. I dont think, theres anything, u can say, that he hasnt told himself repeatedly every day since then and will until the day he dies.
And no, u should not make broad generalizations about the Italians. It was absolutely disgusting to see the US news, when Covid hit Italy, and how Americans were denigrating the Italians and the Italian healthcare system, when Italy actually has 1 of the best healthcare systems in the world, far better than the American, but was completely overrun by a new unknown and highly contageous disease with zero warning.
Ppl make mistakes. I have, and so have u. The vast majority of the time our mistakes have little or no impact. Sometimes they are devastating. But its my mistake. Or ur mistake. Not the mistake of our entire country.
Very well said. Bravo!
@@dfuher968 yea and the americans then proceeded to have one of the highest numbers of casualties. The italian government promptly closed the borders with china at the time iirc but unfortunately people traveling from there just stopped in another country and from there came to Italy anyway. In particular in my region (Veneto) the governor Luca Zaia took measures many found excessive that in the end saved thousands. He was the reason we were amongst the first to have enough masks for everyone and we're all grateful to him for this. Many of his rivals accused him of using the pandemic to get votes by broadcasting the news on the matter himself every day in an interview. Those rivals later ended up getting utterly curbstomped by him in the next regional elections with like 78% of votes (note that there are more than 2 candidates so normally the votes for a single candidate don't get much higher than 30% even in the best of cases).
@@user-qv4np3ur5w bruh I was just answering to Dfuher and agreeing on the fact that the way that american news denigrated Italy when the pandemic had just started was disgusting and provided some facts that help prove that point. And you saying i'm talking about americans when i almost exclusively talked about Italy and only mentioned americans mainly to make clear which part of the comment i was replying to makes me think that either you didn't read my comment well or you misunderstood it in some way or another
@@dfuher968 You're trying to make this about Americans and Covid for some reason (your odd agenda?), but that has nothing to do with this tragedy or the original post. Italy has been wracked with scandals and corruption for decades, in many ways the government is like a circus (with Silvio Berlusconi as the ringleader), so some criticism is warranted. And as you yourself point out, the staff managing the tunnel had insufficient or non-existent training for how to handle a fire, a rather basic scenario. This is not said with the benefit of hindsight, this was a very real, perfectly predictable event that should have been planned for (ex, what if two cars had collided and started a fire?), but as the narrator mentions, profit were put ahead of safety.
congratulations on one mil!! U deserve it, these vids are so educational and respectful in a way most other channels just aren’t. Love ur channel!
I loudly mumbled a "holy shit...." when the part came that they pumped oxygen in... someone obviously failed their chemistry classes
Bravo! The consistency and quality of the uploads on this channel are second to none.
Yay! Managed to comment before someone!!!
Love your content, bringing these tragedies to light is really eye opening.
In my ADR training decade ago the trainer stated the Belgium truck driver should not have stopped. As the heat and flames are going in the opposite direction it is advised that you keep going until you are clear of the tunnel.
Yeah… I knew about fire being fueled by oxygen in elementary school…I can’t believe that ACTUALLY happened 🤯
Thanks for another stellar one.
I was in Chamonix shortly after the tunnel was reopened. Everyone was upset about it, complaining about how it shouldn't have happened. You could still smell the fire when driving through the tunnel, charring everywhere, very sad, the tunnel is amazing as far as the engineering, even better now because of it.
I honestly wonder if those oxygen pumps where meant as a mercy in that 'nobody will ever admit it' sort of way.
Like... this is grim to even type, but turning the tunnel & the too close survival rooms into an oven too hot to survive in under minutes instead of hours. That sort of terrifying choice I never, ever hope I'll need to even contemplate.
This reminds me of a local tragedy that happened in the early 80’s. The Caldecott tunnel fire killed at least a dozen people when the explosion of a fuel tanker turned the tunnel into an incinerator.
I rode my motorcycle through that tunnel dozens of times during my decade in the Bay Area (2008-2019) and had no idea this even happened. Wow.
Why was the truck driver charged with anything?
Just when I thought my jaw couldn't drop any lower the fresh air popped up.
I was impressed with the speed of the French side. Degrave pulled his truck over at 10:53 and the first firefighters showed up at 10:59, that tells me that someone was on the ball there.
Man, im so jazzed to see hlw far your channel has come! Your content has only gotten better and we are all so greatful for all of your hard work to bring us all of this great content.
The lorry driver got a prison sentence even though there was nothing he could do. That reminds me of when Italy put a few geologists in jail because they had failed to prevent an earthquake from happening. They like to make scapegoats there.
I love your videos! You don’t sensationalize the tragedies with music or exaggerated voices, and I love that. More fire/explosion tragedies please!
How horrific it must have Bern to witness something like that even if you survived it the scars will always remain.
Love this channel! Does anyone else stick around to listen to the music at the end or are you normal?