Christmas Car Fire in East River Mountain Tunnel

BLUEFIELD — Damage to the East River Mountain Tunnel following a Christmas night fire was minimal, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

“There was a small vehicle fire southbound at East River Mountain Tunnel at around 11:30 or 11:45 p.m. (Thursday). It involved a four-door sedan and they were just north of the southern exit of the tunnel,” Michelle Earl, a spokeswoman for VDOT said.

According to Mercer County Emergency Services Director Tim Farley, a car heading southbound to the tunnel caught fire approximately 1,000 feet from the end of the tunnel on the Virginia side.

“One female driver was taken from the scene to a hospital in Wytheville for evaluation due to smoke inhalation. From what I understand, it wasn’t life threating,” Farley said.

The tunnel was immediately shut down. Traffic was light at the time of the fire.

“Immediately the tunnel folks shut down north and south bound traffic to allow emergency vehicles to enter the tunnel to try and extinguish the fire,” Farley said.

While firefighters battled the blaze, traffic was diverted onto John Boulevard in Bluefield.

Earl said there was minimal damage to the tunnel.

“We will have to do some small pavement repairs in the coming days and some small tile repairs. It wasn’t a large issue. Traffic is moving smoothly,” Earl said.

According to Farley, initial reports about the tunnel fire were confusing.

“The initial reports were confusing, they at first thought it was another tractor trailer fire because there was a lot of smoke and things. It soon became apparent that it was false. Tunnel authorities said it was not a tractor trailer fire, they notified officials that it was a passenger vehicle car fire,” Farley said.

According to Farley, emergency crews have learned from previous experiences.

“We took some things from the tractor trailer fire earlier in the summer that we found out could have been done better. Although things weren’t bad then we just found things that we could do better. Such as having initial responders go to the command center in the tunnel and coordinate with tunnel officials,” Farley said.

According to Farley, turning exhaust fans on and redirecting the air-flow to keep the smoke away from the firefighters is an essential task during a tunnel fire.

“A tunnel fire usually happens once about every 20 years, but these odds have changed dramatically. In 2014 we’ve had 2 in 6 months so things have changed. I’m not sure there’s any reason for it, it just happens,” Farley said.

The first tunnel fire of the year occurred on July 28, 2014. Traffic was backed up for miles on Interstate 77 and U.S. Route 460.

According to Earl, any kind of repairs that will take place will occur when the traffic volumes are less.

Bluefield and Green Valley-Glenwood fire departments in West Virginia and Bland and Rocky Gap fire departments in Virginia responded to the blaze, Farley said.

West Virginia State Police, Virginia State Police, Mercer County Sheriff's Department, Virginia Department of Transportation, West Virginia Department of Transportation and Mercer County Emergency Management responded to the incident.

“We work 24 hours a day at the tunnel. They do have emergency plans in place,” Earl said.

— Contact Blake Stowers at [email protected]

———

Visit the Bluefield Daily Telegraph (Bluefield, W.Va.) at bdtonline.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC