Up to 150,000 cars pass through the Luise Kiesselbach Tunnel every day, the heart of the Middle Ring in Munich’s southwest. On Thursday, the tube leading north, which is mainly used during rush hour traffic, was closed. A partial release should take place towards the evening. The reason for the closure was 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 the police and the construction department, severe damage occurred in the tunnel tube, which was opened on July 27, 2015.
At around 11 p.m., an Opel van with a Polish registration started to burn while driving, presumably due to a technical defect. No other car was involved. The automatic fire alarm system, which was initially still functioning, went off and barriers lowered automatically, blocking access to the tunnel tube. The driver was able to free himself from the burning Opel Movano and was examined by the emergency services at the scene of the accident. The 30-year-old Ukrainian was uninjured and did not need to be taken to hospital. According to the police, he was in transit.
According to the Munich fire department, two other people who were in the tunnel with their vehicle at the time the fire broke out were also able to leave the tunnel uninjured. The police themselves spoke of a 30-year-old from Ammersee. She had driven into the tunnel behind the pickup truck when the fire alarm went off. According to the police, in order not to have to pass the burning vehicle, she left her VW Golf in the tunnel and fled on foot through an emergency door.
Several emergency calls reached the fire department at 11 p.m. Callers reported heavy smoke coming from both 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. The smoke in the tunnel is said to have been so heavy that it was difficult to locate the accident car and search for possible victims. It took some time before it was certain that there were no more people in the tunnel and the all-clear could be given.
Fire experts from Commissariat 13 of the Criminal Investigation Department have begun to investigate how the fire could have started in the front area of the van. Many things point to a technical defect, it was said at midday. Police and fire departments unanimously reported that significant damage was caused to the tunnel’s technology. Among other things, the fire alarm system is said to have been affected.
The reason for the fire was probably a technical defect.
(Photo: Munich Fire Department)
The material damage is likely to be enormous.
(Photo: Munich Fire Department)
The emergency services had to ventilate the tunnel with heavy equipment.
(Photo: Munich Fire Department)
The material damage is likely to be enormous. The impact on road traffic in Munich is also there: there were kilometers of traffic jams during the morning rush hour on Thursday. The entire Mittlerer Ring was affected, as were Fürstenrieder Straße and the Garmisch Autobahn. Vehicles were backed up on the Lindau Autobahn as far as Gräfelfing. Stealthy and evasive traffic was observed in residential areas throughout Munich’s southwest. In the afternoon, the backlog in front of the closed tunnel entrance in the east reached as far as Giesing on the other bank of the Isar.
On the official Bavarian Congestion map The blockage was already visible that night after an internal report from the police. However, a high-profile warning was only issued at 8 a.m. – when many commuters from the surrounding area had already been stuck in kilometer-long traffic jams.
In the late afternoon, after long inspections and consultations, the construction department announced that the tunnel would be reopened with restrictions at 6 p.m. following repairs to the technology. According to the police, the tunnel had to be completely closed again beforehand – and the full closure lasted longer than planned, until around 8 p.m.
For the time being, access from Luise-Kiesselbach-Platz is not possible, or more precisely: until the destroyed operating technology has been completely replaced, it was said. In addition, the speed limit in the tunnel is 40 and there is a ban on overtaking until further notice. Even more traffic jams are likely in the next few days.
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. In March 2014, a fire alarm was triggered in the Richard Strauss Tunnel. Apparently intentionally – and mistakenly.