Victoria’s firefighters union has raised “serious concerns” about the safety of the West Gate Tunnel after witnessing an incident where smoke detectors failed to detect a smouldering backup battery under the roadway.
The United Firefighters Union (UFU) says the January 21 incident should be a “wake-up call”, but tunnel operators have disputed the incident as just a “minor technical issue”.
The incident occurred in the maintenance tunnel and saw a battery in the tunnel’s backup power system start burning and emitting visible smoke.
The UFU said the West Gate’s smoke detectors were not triggered as they were installed too far from electrical cabinets, which prevented the automatic activations of exhaust ventilation fans.
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