Remote Tunnel Fire Control System

A team of South Korean researchers has developed an automated fire extinguishing system to contain fire accidents inside tunnels.

Nearly 280 tunnel fire accidents were reported in the country over the past 10 years. In particular, Seoul saw an average of two tunnel fire accidents taking place every month in 2017.

In many occasions, it is not easy for fire engines to reach the fire scene at the initial stage when a fire breaks out in the tunnel.

It becomes much worse if the fire trucks encounter a traffic jam inside the semi-sealed underground passageway.

What should also be noted is that Seoul and other major cities, which are struggling to settle their space shortage problems, are poised to continue constructing tunnels and other underground facilities.

In order to deal with such situations, the team of Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) has developed the new fire extinguishing system by combining a CCTV camera capable of detecting flames and smoke with a remote-control water cannon.

In case of tunnel fires, the CCTV cameras alert the fire control center so that it can put out the fire using the water cannons.

[Yoo Yong-Ho, senior researcher, KICT]

"The system effectively helps arrest the spread of flames and smoke to buy time for five to 10 minutes until firefighters reach the fire scene."

The automated system requires less costs as it is allowed to use the existing CCTV cameras and fire hydrants in the tunnels.

The KICT team plans to ask the government to install the new fire-control system in medium-size tunnels across the country at the initial stage.