Office of Railroad, Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Investigations
Smoke and Ventilation Issues
Nancy B. McAtee Office of Research and Engineering
Smoke and Ventilation
• Overview of ventilation system • Timeline • Safety issues
Ventilation Operations
• Normal ventilation
• Emergency ventilation – Vent shaft fans – Station/platform fans • Fans controlled from control center or
locally
Ventilation Operations
• CTA confirms incident location before
activating fans
• Fan 108 removed but not replaced
Ventilation Operations
• Initial response – All fans in exhaust • Fan 133 • Clark/Lake • Continuous platform • Revised response – Reversible fans switched to supply • Fans Clark/Lake • Continuous platform
Issues
• Not all CTA fans reversible – Fan 133 - exhaust only
– Worked against station fans
– Drew smoke in direction of evacuation
• One fan missing
– Fan 108 not present at time of accident – If present, smoke in area of accident
removed more efficiently