Gretzenbach Car Park Fire
Failure of concrete structures can still occur in fire despite their superior performance to steel structures. A high profile example of punching shear failure is a car park fire in Gretzenbach, Switzerland occurring on 11/11/2004. Seven fire-fighters died whilst tackling the fire after the roof collapsed. The image below shows clear evidence for punching shear failure as the columns remain intact whereas the floor has collapsed to the level below. The collapse occurred after approximately 90 minutes of what was considered a relatively small fire, this was partly attributed to excessive loading of soil on the roof (E. Annerel, et al. "Thermo-mechanical analysis of an underground car park structure exposed to fire" Fire Safety Journal 2012).