Up to 150,000 cars pass through the Luise Kiesselbach Tunnel every day, the heart of the Middle Ring in Munich’s southwest. The tube leading north, which is mainly used during rush hour, is now closed – for the foreseeable future. The reason is a fire in a van during the night. The burning vehicle came to a stop so badly that the flames destroyed parts of the ventilation and fire protection system. According to initial information from the police, severe damage occurred to the tunnel tube, which was opened on July 27, 2015.
At around 11 p.m., an Opel van started to burn while driving, presumably due to a technical defect. No other car was involved. The driver was able to free himself from the burning van and was examined by emergency services at the scene of the accident. He was uninjured and did not need to be taken to hospital. According to the Munich fire department, two other people who were in the tunnel with their vehicle when the fire broke out were also able to leave the tunnel uninjured.
Several emergency calls reached the fire department at 11 p.m. The callers reported heavy smoke coming from the ends of the Luise Kiesselbach Tunnel. Rescue workers from the fire department were sent from the control center to the tunnel entrances and into the opposite tunnel.
“Since the van burned right under the structural ventilation motors, these failed during the course of the fire,” reports a fire department spokesman. The smoke extraction system collapsed and the fire department had to step in with two large fans. Significant damage was also caused to the tunnel’s technology. Among other things, the fire alarm system is said to have been affected.
The reason for the fire in the van was probably a technical defect.
(Photo: Munich professional fire department)
The material damage is likely to be enormous. The impact on road traffic in Munich is also there: there are kilometers of traffic jams even during the morning rush hour. The entire Mittlerer Ring is affected, as are Fürstenrieder Straße and the Garmisch Autobahn. Vehicles are backed up on the Lindau Autobahn as far as Gräfelfing.
The Luise Kiesselbach Tunnel is currently closed in the northbound direction from the A95 until an indefinite period of time, as is the Heckenstaller Tunnel to the east. Fire experts from Commissariat 13 of the Criminal Investigation Department have started the investigation. What will happen next with this bottleneck in Munich’s traffic was still completely unclear on Thursday morning.
In the past ten years, cars have burned twice in the tunnels of the Middle Ring: in December 2019 on Landshuter Allee and in June 2022 in the Brudermühltunnel. In both cases the damage was quickly repaired.