After a long delay, Marioff has received permission to announce that its HI-FOG system is being fitted in the A86 car tunnel west of Paris.
The A86 links Brussels via Paris to Bordeaux. The autoroute passes through a densely populated area, and therefore it will run through a tunnel. The first section of the tunnel, 4.5km long and runs cars in two lanes with a hard shoulder and on two levels in opposite directions, is due to be opened in October 2007.
The HI-FOG water mist system releases water at high pressure as a mist over three sections simultaneously, each 33m long, so that 100m of the length of the tunnel are covered by mist.
In tests, the mist was proven to control the fire and knock down temperatures to 50 deg C at only a few tens of metres from the fire. Without fire suppression, the temperature in a tunnel fire can rise above 1200 C, and the heat and smoke can trap passengers.
This is the first tunnel in France to be protected by a fire suppression system and is the longest tunnel in Europe to be protected from fire in this way.
