BART Safety Steps Urged
As a result of a fire in two rapid transit cars in a tunnel under San Francisco Bay, the National Transportation Safety Board has made a number of fire safety recommendations to the Bay Area Rapid Transit Authority.
The board urged that the flame resistance of seat assemblies and other plastic materials be upgraded and called for some way of preventing fire from entering cars through the floor over areas susceptible to fire.
Emergency procedures should be revised, the safety board advised, “to require notification of both the San Francisco and Oakland Fire Departments in the event of smoke and/or fire in the Transbay Tube.”
The board also called for an overhaul of emergency fan and damper procedures so that smoke can’t engulf an entire train or enter the gallery between the two tracks. It was also recommended that operations at train fires or emergency evacuations be coordinated by the department determined to be the most effective at the incident.
