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The Tunnel was closed after the fire broke out in a lorry being carried on a freight train. The fire was believed to be caused by flammable material and led to the reduction in services for several weeks.
Prof Ed Galea, Director of the Fire Safety Engineering Group at the University of Greenwich , said:
“Any fire in a tunnel is a very serious incident even if it’s small. This is because of the confined nature of the space which means it tends to grow very rapidly and also that very high concentrations of smoke and toxic gasses which can be very hazardous can develop very quickly. However the good thing about the Channel Tunnel is that they do actually have a service tunnel which means that staff and passengers have a relatively short distance to travel to get to a place of relative safety. There are many tunnels in Europe that do not have this which makes them more dangerous from a safety point of view.”