Between 1999 and 2004, there was an average of 122 bus fires reported in Sweden alone, and that this equated to buses being 5 to 10 times more likely to catch fire than trucks. In addition, estimated unreported bus fires are 2/3 of reported incidents (~ 81 incidents). In the EU27 alone, there are an estimated 700,000 buses and coaches in use and about 35,000 buses sold annually – of these only 25% have some sort of fire protection systems.

The major drawback of existing systems is that they only react to a fire incident and cannot prevent its occurrence. Current vehicle fire detection and suppression systems also have following problems:
-They cannot determine the extent of the problem and locate the actual position of the problem and therefore a graduated response is not possible;
-They are incapable of giving early warning of potential problems such as electrical faults; and
-They are stand-alone systems, and are not integrated into the vehicle (Can-Bus) control system, with the result that fuel flow cannot be stopped in the event of a fire.

VULCAN will develop a fully automated, intelligent, fixed installation, vehicle fire and smoke detection and extinguishing system for buses and coaches. The system will comprise of heat and aspirating smoke detectors and a fire extinguishing system controlled by an intelligent response system embedded in the vehicle CAN-bus control system. The VULCAN project will help the European bus and coach operators to increase passenger safety and reduce bus fires by up to 25% through predictive detection.

The VULCAN project will focus on developing three important subsystems and components:
a) Vehicle smoke detection system
b) Optimal agent tank, nozzles and piping system design, and
c) Control system integrated with vehicle Can-Bus control system
Our calculations, based on 2,8% of EU and 0.7% of global market penetration, 5 years post project, show €48m additional sales and €13.5m profit for SMEPs involved with the project.