Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 83 (2019) 452–460

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Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology

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Statistical analysis of fire accidents in Chinese highway tunnels 2000–2016 T

a b a,⁎ a,⁎ a
Rui Ren , Hui Zhou , Zhao Hu , Siyue He , Xiuling Wang
a
School of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
b
CCCC Highway Consultants CO., Ltd., Beijing 100088, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Statistical analysis of tunnel fire accidents (TFAs) in China 2000–2016 as related to causes, characteristics, and
Highway tunnel consequences are discussed in this study with average frequency, time and locations, vehicle types, and regional
Fire accident distribution features revealed. Analysis results indicate that over half of TFAs in China result from vehicle
Statistical analysis technical problem. The average prevalence of TFAs has increased yearly since 2000 with the majority of in-
Distribution characteristics
cidences occurring in the summer and winter seasons and the autumn season experiencing the least. Fire ac-
Countermeasures
cident prone locations tend to be at entrance and exit points of highway tunnels with heavy goods vehicles
experiencing the largest proportion of TFAs at 58.2%. Countermeasures focusing on improving tunnel safety are
recommended.

1. Introduction tunnels, and underground railway tunnels in 85 cities worldwide over

Tunnel design has introduced convenience to production and life as
highway traffic construction has markedly risen. Vehicle accident risk is
lower for highway tunnel areas when compared to the remaining
highway network; however, catastrophe potential related to tunnel fire
is higher (Mashimo, 2002; Caliendo and De Guglielmo, 2017; Zhang
et al., 2018; Santos-Reyes and Beard, 2017; Li et al., 2018a). The
narrow and tubular enclosed structure of tunnel design hinders dis-
sipation of smoke and heat, limiting access for fire fighters and rescue
operations access, thereby increasing escape difficulty. Fire attack ef-
forts are particularly challenged when temperatures reach over 1000 °C
as with accidents involving lorry or oil tank trucks. Fire accidents re-
sulting in loss of life, personal injury, and destruction to tunnel facilities
obviously impart serious negative societal impact (Hertig et al., 2004;
Lai et al., 2016a,b, 2017, 2018; Qiu et al., 2017, 2018a,b, 2019; Seike
et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2018; Zheng et al., 2018a,b). Recent and
historical incidences outline the potential for devastation as 5 lives
were lost to fire disaster occurring in the GuldborgSund Tunnel of
Denmark in 2001; and fire accident in Amberg Tunnel of Austria re-
sulted in 3 fatalities in 2001; and fire accident in Lainberg Tunnel of
Austria resulted in 2 fatalities in 2001 (Leitner, 2001). Public and
governmental awareness has been raised for tunnel safety aspects and
road tunnel use as a result of disaster aftermath. European countries
have addressed TFAs through various studies. For instance, the Bonn
Federation Transportation Department performed a study in the early
1980s based on fire accidents in highway tunnels, urban railway
the past 15 years (1970–1985). Accident characteristics were analyzed
for causes with corresponding countermeasures presented (PIARC,
1995). Permanent International Association of Road Congresses
(PIARC) implemented statistical analysis of TFAs in 1995 and 1999 in
Britain, France and other countries with frequency and distribution
rules of fires reported (PIARC, 1995, 1999). The EU has added tunnel
regulation “Directive 2004/54/EC of the European parliament and of
the council on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the Trans-
European Road Network” to improve EU tunnel safety in general
(European Commission, Brussels, 2004). Rattei et al. (2014) examined
examine the frequency of tunnel fires and the distribution of fires in-
tensities and the conditional fire probability caused by vehicle break-
downs or accidents and a number of other relevant results during the
period 2006–2012. Nævestad and Meyer (2014) examined Norwegian
road tunnel vehicle fires from 2008 to 2011 and detailing prevalence
and characteristics.
Strong sustainable economic development in China inspired con-
struction of new highway tunnels since the beginning of the 21st cen-
tury, with an annual average growth rate of 20%. China featured
highway tunnels in 15,181 locations by year end 2016, with a total
length of 14039.7 km (MTPRC, 2017; Wang et al., 2018a,b,c,d; He
et al., 2018; Hu et al., 2018). Substantial research including model
experiments and numerical approaches has been recently conducted on
tunnel fires by Chinese scholars to address temperature change rules,
flame dynamic characteristics and heat release rate, etc. (Hu et al.,
2008; Lai et al., 2014b; Nie et al., 2018). Few studies related to

⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: huzhao@chd.edu.cn (Z. Hu), hesiyue@chd.edu.cn (S. He).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2018.10.008
Received 3 December 2017; Received in revised form 3 August 2018; Accepted 16 October 2018
0886-7798/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R. Ren et al.
characteristics of TFAs have been conducted in China, however, related
to the perspective of investigation and statistics. A large fire accident in
Maoliling Tunnel was examined in 2002 with safety measures proposed
by Jiang (2002). The damage to lining structure and pavement caused
by a fire accident in the Xinqidaoliang Tunnel were statistically ana-
lyzed and evaluated in 2011 with relevant repair schemes proposed
(Tian et al., 2013; Lai et al., 2014a). Various TFAs studies have also
been conducted based on statistical analysis in China and other coun-
tries with cause, characteristics, and distribution features investigated
(Wang and Wang, 2009; Zhang et al., 2009). Research and progress of
fire accident prevention in tunnels have benefitted from past research,
however, statistics of fire accidents in highway tunnels are not com-
prehensive and do not truly reflect the current situation as expansion of
tunnel construction in recent ten years, which has been prolific re-
quiring the rules and distribution characteristics of fire accidents to be
further observed. Research conducted for this paper then included
statistical analysis of 161 large and medium TFAs from 2000 to 2016,
exploring the main distribution characteristics and laws of TFAs in
China.
2. Data sources and analysis
TFAs are top amongst highway tunnel disasters generating most
severe impacts. Gathering statistical material to effectively study TFAs
required at least a period of five to ten years as the number of fire
accidents are obviously exceptionally fewer than typical traffic acci-
dents (PIARC, 1995). The project is based on the data collected from the
consultation with sources including the State Administration of Work
Safety (SAWS) governmental website accident query system (SAWS,
2017), police-reported tunnel database, tunnel management center of
the freeway at different province, news archives and literature of sci-
ence and technology, related to tunnel fires indicated that a total of 161
TFAs occurred in China between the years 2000–2016. In comparison
with a Norway study (Nævestad and Meyer, 2014) and Austrian study
(Rattei et al., 2014), the sample size of the annual average number of
TFAs is relative small, which is the limitation for this study. However,
the data collection during 2000–2016 could be equally good, and re-
flected the characteristics of TFAs in china to a certain extent. Sub-
stantial TFA cases and typically representative cases of recent years in
China were presented in Table 1.
2.1. Causes analysis of TFAs in China
Statistical analysis research summarized the following categories as
causative factors for TFAs: (1) vehicle traffic accident, (2) vehicle
technical problem and (3) miscellaneous contributors. Fig. 1 indicates
that the proportion of fire accidents caused by vehicle technical pro-
blems are the highest, which accounts for 62% (22.2% were caused by
engine fire, 17.7% were caused by tire fire, 6.5% were caused by
electric appliance circuit fire, and 15.7% were caused by other vehicle
technical problem), fire accidents caused by traffic accidents are also
significant, which accounting for 18.3%, approximately 7.2% of TFAs
were caused by spontaneous combustion in goods loaded on vehicles,
and 12.4% caused by indeterminate causes.
2.2. Characteristics of TFAs in China
Occurrence of fire accidents in highway tunnels is distinct from
ordinary fire accidents. Analysis of several TFAs cases revealed the
following main characteristics: (1) dense smoke and high temperature,
(2) explosion and rapid proliferation; (3) narrow space and difficult
evacuation, (4) brief formation and long duration, (5) random and
unsteady nature, (6) traffic congestion and with potential for secondary
fire activation. The fire size is defined as the peak heat release rate
(HRR) for type of vehicle allowed in the tunnel. The largest contribu-
tion in tunnel fire is from heavy goods vehicle fire, in order to get the
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Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 83 (2019) 452–460
peak Heat Release Rate for heavy goods vehicle with different quantity
and nature of the load, the four large scale fire tests in the Runehamar
tunnel in Norway, the maximum HRR values of tests were 201.9 MW,
156.6 MW, 118.6 MW, 66.4 MW respectively. The design fire size of
heavy good vehicle is 30–100 MW in UK, which reference the Design
Manual for Road and Bridges and Design of Road Tunnels BD 78/99.
The design fire size of heavy good vehicle is 70–200 MW in USA, which
reference NFPA 502 Standard for Road Tunnels, Bridges, and Other
Limited Access Highways. Table 2 summarizes the generally accepted
range of potential peak HRR for different vehicle types.
2.3. Consequence and hazard analysis of TFAs
Fire accidents in highway tunnels often result in injury, death, ve-
hicle damage, destruction to tunnel facilities and damage of tunnel
structure, etc. (cf. Fig. 2). The extents of injuries/damages sustained
from TFAs in China 2000–2016 are outline in Figs. 3 and 5.
2.3.1 Personal injuries
75.9% of the 161 fires involved no harm to people while in 7.4% of
the cases, it was unclear whether the fire had led to personal injuries.
Injury was confirmed in 9.9% of the fires, 6.8% of cases involving
death. Due to the difficulty of supplying sufficient oxygen, most of the
combustions burn without oxygen in the tunnel, which produce large
amount of CO, smoke and harmful gases, leading to lower oxygen
concentration level and higher CO content. However, either the oxygen
level less than 10% or CO content higher than 0.12% would cause
people lose judgment and behavioral ability, which results in much
lower probability of escaping. There are many cases that people lost
their lives in TFAs due to the insufficient of oxygen or excess carbon
monoxide poisoning, such as GuldborgSund tunnel, Madaoling tunnel,
Yanhou tunnel and the Huishan tunnel fire. Fig. 4 shows a passenger car
which was burned in the fire accident in Huishan Tunnel.
2.3.2 Damage to tunnels
Among 161 fire accidents in highway tunnels, 40 cases have pro-
duced destruction to tunnel facilities and structure, accounting for
24.8%. 66.5% of the fires involved no damage to the tunnels while the
extent of tunnel damage was unclear in 8.7% of cases.
Temperatures often reach up to 1000 °C in serious fire scenarios
with impacts from the high temperature manifesting in decrease of
concrete lining strength and loss in the adhesive force of rebar and
concrete, leading to tunnel structure destruction. Fires also damage
ventilation and lighting systems, power supply operations, and dis-
tribution facilities within the tunnel. A two-vehicle rear-end collision
accident occurred, for example, on May 5, 2008, at the exit of
Dabaoshan Tunnel on the Jingzhu expressway. One vehicle was car-
rying the chemical, xylene, that leaked upon impact, catching fire and
resulting in instantaneous death of two persons, and seriously dama-
ging the tunnel facilities by scorching the tunnel vault and detaching
concrete blocks (SAWS, 2017) (Fig. 6). An additional example includes
an incident that transpired on April 2011, when a rear-end collision
occurred between two tankers prompting fires to form creating pa-
ralysis for the entire tunnel circuit including ventilation and electro-
mechanical equipment (Tian et al., 2013) (Fig. 7).
2.3.3 Vehicles involved
The number and type of vehicles involved in tunnel fires have
bearings on severity of the fires. Fig. 2 indicates that only 0.6% of the
161 fires (1 out of 161cases) experienced no vehicle damage while the
remaining accidents featured vehicle damage to different degrees.
Trucks are indicated as the leading vehicle type involved in TFAs,
possessing the potential for triggering secondary fires as materials
carried by trucks are often combustible and, particularly in the traffic
jam scenario, retain the ability to exert major disastrous consequences.
One example took place in March 2014 when a two tanker truck rear-
R. Ren et al. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 83 (2019) 452–460

Table 1
Some cases of TFAs in China 2000–2016.
Year Tunnel Cause Victims/ Vehicle and tunnel damage Accident scene
fatalities

2001 Madaoling tunnel (Wang and Wang, Engine fire 12 Dead; 6 1 bus burned
2009) Injured

2002 Maoliling tunnel (Jiang, 2002) Engine fire None Caused greater economic losses, interrupted
traffic 18D

2003 Shidaoshan tunnel (Wang and Spontaneous combustion in goods None Tunnel facilities damaged, 1 large truck burned
Wang, 2009)

2004 Niuguantou tunnel (Zhang et al., Spontaneous combustion of calcium None 1 truck burned
2009) carbide loaded on truck

2005 Feiluanling tunnel (Wang and Wang, Passenger car brake failure, wheel on fire 8 Serious injured 1 bus burned
2009)

2006 Wenquan tunnel (SAWS, 2017) Truck tire burst into flames None Facilities were severely damaged

2007 University city tunnel (Wang and Technical problems 6 Injured Lighting and ventilation system are paralyzed,
Wang, 2009) a bus burned

2008 Dabaoshan tunnel (SAWS, 2017) Rear-end collision 2 Dead, Tunnel vault burned and closure for a month

2009 Qinling zhongnanshan tunnel A small truck carrying burning quilt None None
(SAWS, 2017)

2010 Huishan tunnel (SAWS, 2017) Man-made arson 24 Dead, 19 Damage to mechanical and electrical facilities
Injured

2011 Xinqidaoliang tunnel(Tian et al., A tanker truck and a lorry in a crashes, 4 Dead, 1 The entire tunnel circuit is paralyzed., structure
2013) explodes Injured and facilities serious damage

2012 Xueshan Tunnel (SAWS, 2017) The car crashed into the passenger car had 2 Dead, 22 1 passenger car burned
a blow-out Injured

2013 Liushililiang tunnel (SAWS, 2017) A truck collision with 3 cars and collision 6 Dead, 2 Some facilities of tunnel are damaged, 4 cars
with a wall injured burned

2014 Yanhou tunnel (CPGPRC, 2014) A tanker truck crashed into another truck 40 Dead 12 42 vehicles all burned, Severe damage to the
loaded with methanol Injured tunnel

2015 Fenghuangshan tunnel (SAWS, Front collision destroyed tank None 2 cars burned
2017)

2016 Mangshan tunnel (SAWS, 2017) Rear-end collision 1 Dead 1 cars burned

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Fig. 1. Causes of the tunnel fires in China 2000–2016 (N = 161).

Table 2
Typical peak HRRs for different road vehicles (PIARC, 2017).
Vehicle type Peak HRR (MW)

Passenger car 5–10

Light duty vehicle 15
Coach, bus 20
Lorry, heavy-goods vehicle up to 25 tonnes* 30–50
Heavy-good vehicles typically 25–50 tonnes* 70–150
Petrol tanker 200–300

* Depending on the quantity and nature of the load.

Fig. 4. Fire accident in Huishan Tunnel (2010).

Fig. 2. Consequences of TFAs in China 2000–2016 (N = 161).

Fig. 5. Damage to tunnels in TFAs in China 2000–2016 (N = 161).

ends collision accident transpired at the exit of the Yanhou Tunnel (see
Fig. 8) on the Jin-Ji expressway. Methanol was carried in one vehicle
and leaked, catching fire and quickly spreading from one end of the
tunnel to the opposite exit, resulting in the ignition of 33 coal trucks. A
large vehicle loaded with liquid natural gas then subsequently ex-
ploded. The accident ultimately claimed 40 lives, 12 injuries and 42
burned vehicles (TCPGPRC, 2014).

3. Distribution characteristics of TFAs in China 2000–2016

Fig. 3. Injury to people in TFAs in China 2000–2016 (N = 161). 3.1. Frequency estimation of TFAs

Challenges exist for accurately figuring TFAs occurrence frequency

as a result of various factors including tunnel scale, form, traffic vo-
lume, traffic composition, and tunnel management level, thus a

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R. Ren et al.
Fig. 6. Fire accident in Dabaoshan Tunnel (2008).
Fig. 7. Fire accident in Xinqidaoliang Tunnel (2011).
Fig. 8. Fire accident in Yanhou Tunnel (2014).
systematic official statistics data set has not been established in China
(Yan et al., 2018; Zhou et al., 2017; Li et al., 2000; Yeung and Wong,
2013). Probability for tunnel fires recently has escalated with rising
traffic density, travelling speed, and quantity and frequency of com-
bustible-loaded vehicles. The average annual frequency of TFAs in
China in 2000–2016 was estimated for this report based on the number
of tunnel fires, total length and average annual traffic volume. As
shown in Fig. 9, the average annual frequency of fire increased annually
since 2000, and increased to more than approximately 15 times/(108
vehicles km) by the end of 2016, and the increasing of tunnel fire fre-
quency during the period 2008–2016 is marginally higher than that in
the period 2000–2007. Distribution of tunnel fires appears to corre-
spond with the number of tunnels present in the period 2000–2016 and
is consistent with the tendency found in studies of highway tunnel ac-
cidents (Ma et al., 2009; Lu et al., 2014).
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Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 83 (2019) 452–460
Fig. 9. Average frequency of TFAs in china 2000–2016.
3.2. The time and locations of the TFAs
3.2.1 Time of the year
A monthly distribution of TFAs is presented in Fig. 10 indicating the
majority (62.8%) of fires occurred in the summer and winter with
30.1% occurring in the summer and 32.7% occurring in the winter.
Spring fires occurred at a rate of 21.6% while autumn experienced the
least season at 15.6%. January featured the greatest percentage at
14.4%, likely due to colder weather and less friction coefficient induced
by heavy winter snow and a related higher probability for traffic ac-
cident occurrence in the tunnels. January also experiences increased
traffic volume as travellers are homebound for Spring Festive leading to
higher traffic accident potential. Summer temperatures and dry climate
contribute to elevated fire potential as wheels or engines of heavily-
loaded vehicle may ignite upon temperatures reaching the critical
point.
3.2.2 Location of the fires
Statistics indicate that both entrance and exit locations of tunnels
are prone to potential fire accidents and that risk of tunnel fires with
steep slopes is also significant. On one hand, Inferior pavement condi-
tions in winter affect tunnel entrance locations creating a much higher
probability of accident risks, consequently resulting in frequent fires
(Wu et al., 2011; Seiji et al., 2016; Luo et al., 2018a,b; Gandit et al.,
2009; Qiao et al., 2018; Ren et al., 2018a,b). On the other hand, en-
trance/exit characteristics increase rear-end collisions due to “black
hole” conditions at the tunnel entrances and “white hole” conditions at
tunnel exits combined with high velocity vehicle situations (Luo et al.,
2014; Lai et al., 2018; Qiu et al., 2019; Li et al., 2018a,b). Vehicle
abnormality and driver reaction within the tunnel often also leads to
acceleration that contributes to accident frequency at the same loca-
tions. Associated with vehicle abnormality is the added fire potential
for heavy load bearing trucks as breaks are applied more frequently on
steeper slope roads causing high temperature of the break blades,
leading to tire fire risks as a result of extended friction time.
3.3. Vehicle types of TFAs
Vehicles types involved with TFAs typically include heavy goods
vehicles (including heavy truck, trailer and tanker, etc.), medium sized
vehicles (including bus and light truck), cars and light vehicles (in-
cluding sedan and car) basing on the heat release rates (HRRs) for
different vehicles driving through. Statistical data (cf. Fig. 11) indicates
that heavy goods vehicles comprise the largest portion of TFAs at
58.2%. Heavy goods vehicles actually occupy less of general highway
traffic as a proportion, yet maintain a larger proportion in TFAs,
R. Ren et al.
24
21
18
15
Number
12
0
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May.
Month
Fig. 10. Monthly distribution of TFAs in china 2000–2016 (N = 161).
indicating that trucks are prone to fires. Cars and light vehicles were
involved in 14.4% of fires, and 24.8% of cases involved medium sized
vehicles. A slight number of cases, 2.6% featured unspecified vehicle
types. Results suggest that measures aimed at preventing the risk of and
minimizing the consequences of TFAs should focus especially on trucks.
3.4. Regional distribution of TFAs
Regional statistics of TFAs, as shown in Fig. 12, indicated that fires
have been recorded in 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous
regions, with the Zhejiang Province experiencing the greatest accident
numbers at 29, followed by Hubei, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Fujian, and
Chongqing. The more feature of Mountainous and economically de-
veloped regions appeared, the more TFA-prone in province. The
quantity of long and large highway tunnels in mountainous and eco-
nomically developed areas predominates, increasing the frequency of
fires to a certain degree. For example, the Zhejiang Province in 2011
had 1130 mountainous highway tunnels, the most number in China
(Wu et al., 2011). Extensive slope of tunnels is often designed for long
and steep downgrade sections in the mountainous areas. Frequently
braking vehicles in this environment increases TFA potential, particu-
larly for heavy goods vehicles, as high temperatures of break blades
may lead to tire fire risks typically as a result of extended friction time,
and the tire fire caused the tunnel fire accident, therefore, the tunnel
fire caused by overheated brakes in the steep tunnel typically. Heavy
traffic volume and a mix of various vehicles in economically developed
areas also increases traffic accidents and consequential fire frequency.
Fig. 11. Vehicle types of fire accidents in china 2000–2016 (N = 161).
Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 83 (2019) 452–460
Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
4. Discussion
4.1. Comparison on cause of TFAs
A 1999 PIARC analysis reported on the cause of tunnel fires in
European countries from the perspective of vehicle type, revealing that
60–70% of tunnel fires resulted from overheated brakes of large ve-
hicles, while small vehicle fires typically resulted from circuit failure
(PIARC, 1999). British statistical data indicated that (Carder, 2006)
approximately 75% of tunnel fires in Britain were due to vehicle circuit
and battery defects, while only 6–7% of fires were traffic accident in-
itiated. As can be seen, statistical results of British and other European
countries fires are consistent with results obtained in studies in China,
namely, more than 50% of fires attributed to vehicle failure, such as
technical problem of brake pads, tires, and electric circuits. The pro-
portion of tunnel fires resulting from traffic accidents is relatively high
China at 18%, and it is should be concerned. Statistics appear to reveal
that extremely serious fire accidents are consistently related to vehicle
collisions and other traffic accident types, thus focus should be placed
on resolving traffic accident occurrence.
4.2. Comparison on frequency of TFAs
Tunnel fire frequency statistical situations differ in various countries
and are related to factors including, tunnel scale, form, traffic flow
composition, statistical time range, management level, cultural differ-
ence, etc. Average frequency of tunnel fires, as determined by PIARC
following evaluation of tunnel accident statistics, did not exceed 25
times/(108 vehicles·km) (PIARC, 1999). Table 3 demonstrates the
classified statistical analysis of tunnel fire frequency in France with
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Henan Province 2
Shanxi Province 3
Shandong Province 3
Yunnan Province 3
Sichuan Province 4
Gansu Province 6
Jiangsu Province 2
Guangxi Province 4
Jiangxi Province 2
Hunan Province 4
Hubei province 25
Guangdong Province 10
Guizhou Province 15
Qinghai Province 2
Fujian Province 13
Chongqing Province 9
Anhui Province 4
Zhejiang Province 29
Liaoning Province 2
Shaanxi Province 19
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32
The number of fire accidents
Fig. 12. Regional distributions of TFAs in china 2000–2016 (N = 161).

Table 3
Statistics of various types of tunnel fire frequency in France (PIARC, 1999).
Types of fire Degree of fire Frequency of tunnel fire/times/
(108 vehicles km)

Passenger car General fire 1–2

Ordinary truck General fire 8

Fire damage to 1
tunnel
Serious fire 0.1–0.3 (estimate)

Trucks loaded with General fire 2 (estimate)

dangerous goods Fire in dangerous 0.3 (estimate)
goods

trucks featuring the maximum fire frequency at 8 times/(108 vehi-

cles·km) and the average fire frequency at 4.5/(108 vehicles·km)
(PIARC, 1999). Statistical analysis of fire accidents in the Germany Elbe
tunnel from 1990 to 1999 revealed the average frequency of fire dis-
asters was 8.5 times/(108 vehicles·km) (Haack, 2002; Li and Chow,
2000) also discovered that fire frequency from 1992 to 1998 in the
Switzerland Gott-hard tunnel was less than 6 times/(108 vehicles·km).
An Austrian survey covering the period 2006–2012 identified 38 car
fires and 30 heavy goods vehicle (HGV) and bus fires inside tunnels
from national incident statistics, indicating HGV fires may have an even
larger share of all fires. The rate of HGV and bus fires was 2.5 times/
(108 vehicles·km) and the corresponding number for car fires was 0.42
(Gehandler, 2015). China's tunnel construction was initiated relatively
later with the pace of construction gradually accelerating into the
twenty-first century. Frequency of fire varies in different Chinese re-
gions as, in 2004, the design code for highway tunnels revealed that
tunnel fires in China experienced occurrence frequency of 4 times/(108
vehicles · km) (JTG D70-2004, 2004). Wu et al. (2011) reveals that
highway tunnel fire frequency in the Zhejiang Province was 5.5 times/
(108 vehicles km) on average with frequency in some tunnels reaching
up to 36 times/(108 vehicles km) in 2005–2007. Frequency of fire in
China has increased annually since 2000 (see Fig. 9) and in 2008 tunnel
fire frequency entered a period of rapid growth with tunnel fire fre-
quency reaching more than 15 times/(108 vehicles km) as of the end of
2016. Thus, the fire frequency in China was relatively high as a whole
in recent years.
Fig. 13. Comparison on consequence of TFA in China and Norway.
4.3. Comparison on consequence and hazard of TFAs
Fig. 13 refers to a comparison of casualties and tunnel damage due
to fire in Norway and China. The comparison indicates that 11.8% of
TFAs result in casualties in Norway (Nævestad and Meyer, 2014) while
16.3% of fires involved casualties in China with tunnel facility and
structure damage at 14.8% in Norway and 24.8% in China. TFAs in
China then result in substantially more serious consequences. Safety
awareness practices with regard to tunnel driving and emergency si-
tuations in China would benefit from awareness efforts for corrective
action. In addition, the tunnel vehicle management system and fire
facility system in China require further evaluation to achieve effective
controls with special attention focused on vehicles loaded with flam-
mable and combustible goods.
5. Countermeasures
Avoidance of tunnel fires may not be entirely preventable yet pre-
cautionary efforts toward TFA disaster relief will significantly reduce
the risk and minimize the consequences. Effective countermeasures for
improving tunnel fire safety in China, based on the described data
analysis, may be addressed as follows.

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R. Ren et al.
(1) Statistical results indicate that vehicle technical problem is the
primary cause for tunnel fires with trucks composing the largest
proportion of TFAs at 51.6%. Monitoring cameras utilized by the
Chinese Highway Safety Administration should be employed to
locate and strictly prohibit tunnel entrance for vehicles failing to
meet highway tunnel driving requirements. Trucks bearing flam-
mable and combustible goods should specifically be prohibited,
escorted to pass, or pass within limited time, while firefighting
measures should be taken correspondingly.
(2) Regular tunnel safety assessments should be conducted as in
European countries. Safety assessments of tunnel in Europe were
indicated in “Directive 2004/54/EC of the European parliament
and of the council on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in
the Trans-European Road Network” (2004), the tunnel safety
system was transformed and improved with safety protection
schemes for new tunnels proposed. Corresponding emergency plans
should be formulated in accordance with specific tunnel circum-
stances, conducting prevent fire education, and organizing joint
periodic exercises for tunnel staff and the emergency services at
regular intervals.
(3) Tunnel driving safety education should be implemented for all
drivers. Specifically, safety publicity and education should address
tunnel knowledge, tunnel driving safety, emergency treatment, etc.,
thus enabling drivers to build safety awareness, strictly comply with
tunnel driving rules, and deal with vehicle failure, accidents and
other emergencies calmly and correctly. Training to address effec-
tive deployment of fire extinguishers is necessary as investigations
indicate that in early fire stages, drivers and conductors often seek
fire fighting equipment, yet the majorities are unable to activate the
equipment properly. Diversified publicity methods are urgently
needed for highway TFAs response actions to address prevention,
escape and rescue.
(4) Drivers should practice regular safety prevention actions including
daily vehicle condition inspections and strict obeyance of traffic
rules. Safety distance, speed limits, lane changes, vehicle passing,
and random parking regulations must be strictly followed and en-
forced.
6. Conclusions
The majority of TFAs in China result from vehicle technical pro-
blem, accounting for 62%, with 22.2% resulting from engine fire,
17.7% from tire fire, 6.5% from electric appliance circuit fire, and
15.7% related to other reasons. Traffic accidents also account for a
significant percentage of fire accidents with 29 out of 161 cases in-
volved, equal to 18.3%.
Highway tunnel fire accidents result in casualties, vehicle damage,
destruction to tunnel facilities and damage to tunnel structure.
According to the statistical results, 75.9% of the 161 fires involved no
harm to people, among 161 fire accidents in highway tunnels, 40 cases
resulting in destruction to tunnel facilities and structure, accounting for
24.8%, most accidents resulted in vehicle damage to various degrees.
The monthly distribution of TFAs indicates that 62.8% of fires oc-
curred in the summer and winter with autumn experiencing the least
fires (15.6%). The tunnel entrances and exits are more prone for po-
tential traffic accidents and the risk of fires in tunnels with steep slopes
is also great.
Heavy goods vehicles represent the major vehicle type involved
with TFAs in China, accounting for the highest percentage among all
vehicles types at 58.2%. Thus, risk management must account the
heavy goods vehicles component of the traffic volume, and assessing of
relevant risks of tunnel fire caused by number of heavy goods vehicle
increasing.
Tunnel fires are typically concentrated in mountainous and eco-
nomically developed regions. Comparative analysis of different coun-
tries indicates the overall frequency of Chinese highway tunnel fires is
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Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 83 (2019) 452–460
relatively high with consequences producing more serious harm.
Analysis of tunnel accidents and related factors may provide a better
understanding of TFAs risks and also provide the information required
to establish effective safety measures. Effective safety measures sug-
gested in this study may be applied as a reference for tunnel safety
improvements for highway tunnels in China.
Acknowledgments
This work is financially supported by the Special Fund for Basic
Scientific Research of Central Colleges of Chang’an University (Nos.
310821172004, 310821153312, 310821165011, 310821151018,
310821173312) and The National Key R&D Program of China (Grant
No. 2017YFC0805306) and The Project on Social Development of
Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Department (NO. 2018SF-
382, 2018SF-378).
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