• French officials are admitting in private that the Mont
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Blanc tunnel could be closed for up to a year following the recent fire (CM1-7 April). And lower speed limits with a peak-time tariff are to be introduced at the alternative Frejus Tunnel, where traffic has doubled.
The admission comes at the same time as a preliminary report for the French authorities describes the fire, which killed 40 people, as a disaster waiting to happen. The French and Italian authorities are both being blamed for allowing the 35-year-old tunnel to handle too much traffic with insufficient fire prevention.
The disaster happened when a burning artic was abandoned in the central part of the tunnel.
The investigation says that Italian efforts to start the smoke extraction system backfired when more air was pumped through vents, which had the effect of fanning the flames.
The Italian authorities are also criticised for apparently failing to have any effective firefighting equipment stored at the tunnel entrance.
The report also says:
• Only two joint safety exercises have been held during the past 25 years; • Safety procedures were weakened by splitting responsibility for the 11.61im tunnel between the two countries; • Neither country had installed sufficiently powerful smoke extraction systems; • The tunnel is simply too narrow and there is no alternative system of evacuation.
The mayor of Chamonix says he has consistently warned of the risks of 800,000 trucks using the tunnel every year.