The Car Park After The Fire. Note how
little damage has been caused.

Noordknoop Case Study

In the late afternoon of January 24th 2002, a fire started in the Noordknoop car park in Maastricht. The fire department was automatically alerted and the PSB Impulse Ventilation System was activated to control the smoke.

The fire department arrived after approximately 10 minutes. The PSB system controlled the smoke to the exhaust fans and up through the shaft. The PSB fire detection panel indicated the exact location of the fire to the fire department so that they could quickly plan how to tackle the incident.

The fire was extinguished within 5 minutes after the fire department arrived. No other vehicles in the car park were damaged. Only two cars, a Volvo S80 and a Peugeot 405 were damaged. Smoke damage to the car park was minimal, in fact 10 minutes after the fire was extinguished, the fire department gave permission to re-open the car park! The small amount of smoke damage was unavoidable, however this was far less than what it could have been with a conventional ducted system.

According to the fire department report, there was no structural damage. The car park roof was covered by a small amount of soot. The floor was damaged slightly as a result of burned parts under the bonnet, but not in a way that immediate repairs were necessary.