General aspects of fire safety management for tunnels in Hong Kong

Consequent to a vehicular tunnel fire in Hong Kong in 2000, citizens are now concerned about whether the tunnels are safe in an accidental fire. It is obvious that tunnels built years ago will not satisfy new fire safety requirements. Action plans for upgrading fire safety provisions and tunnel management were developed and are being implemented. However, closing the tunnels with heavy traffic for long periods for refurbishment work is not feasible. One of the solutions is to enhance fire safety management. In this article, general aspects of fire safety management for tunnels are discussed. These fire safety objectives need to be stated clearly in a fire safety manual. A fire safety plan should be prepared and executed by an appointed fire safety manager.