West Gate Tunnel operator Transurban has insisted it is safe to use, despite an incident last month which the firefighters union said was more evidence of the risk it posed to emergency services personnel.
According to the United Firefighters Union, a battery fire occurred in a maintenance passageway beneath the tunnel’s roadway on 21 January .
Despite smoke from the fire being clearly visible, the union claims it failed to set off the tunnel’s automatic alarm system because the smoke detectors were installed too far away.
As a result, the UFU said firefighters were not automatically alerted to the fire and were instead informed by tunnel workers calling triple-0, while ventilation fans designed to clear smoke for emergency services personnel also failed to activate.
Upon arrival at the tunnel, the union claims fire crews were met with further delays while golf carts were sourced to transport them more than two kilometres underground to the scene of the fire.
“This incident should be a wake-up call,” UFU delegate and leading firefighter Prashant Waitha said.
“If firefighter expertise had been properly consulted during design and commissioning of this tunnel, these issues would have been identified before an incident occurred.
“The reality is that if this fire had escalated, workers could have been overcome by smoke long before firefighters were able to physically reach them.”
The UFU has been warning about safety issues and a lack of testing and emergency services training in the tunnel since before it opened in December last year and Mr Waitha said the latest incident underscored their concerns.
“Underground tunnel incidents demand properly designed systems, clear procedures and the right equipment. What we saw on the day was confusion, delay and unacceptable risk.”
However, a Transurban spokesperson said the 21 January incident was due to a minor technical fault and presented no risk to motorists of or tunnel operations.
“The West Gate Tunnel is safe,” the spokesperson said.
“Our 24-7 monitoring systems and trained personnel ensured this minor technical issue was identified early and managed safely, with the tunnels remaining operational at all times.”
