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Last Thursday's fire in the Channel tunnel could have caused much less damage if Eurotunnel had followed safety recommendations made after previous blazes, firefighters and engineering experts have claimed, writes the Guardian.

The fire, which is thought to have been started on a lorry transporting chemicals on a freight train, burned for 17 hours before it was put out by 300 French and British firefighters.

It caused millions of pounds of damage, and there is still disruption to passenger and freight services which are expected to last for months.

The Fire Brigades Union says it warned Eurotunnel after a fire in 1996 that changes needed to be made to its rolling stock. That fire caused £200m of damage and closed the tunnel to freight for seven months.

The FBU's south-east general secretary, Jim Parrott, told New Civil Engineer magazine: "Our main concern was open-sided wagons. We wanted closed trucks that would contain fire ... In a closed wagon, you would take people away from their vehicles and, if a fire is detected, you could then fill a truck with either an inert gas or compressed air foam, both of which are very efficient at putting out fires."

The magazine also reports that an expert on concrete and tunnel safety had told Eurotunnel before the 1996 fire that the tunnel's concrete lining was not tough enough to withstand very high temperatures. Last week's blaze reached 1,000C.

A Eurotunnel spokesman told the Guardian that the company was governed by the Inter-Governmental Safety Commission which decided what kind of wagons should be used. The tunnel had been built with the highest specification concrete, he said, adding: "Of course, concrete fragments with high heat. We know how to deal with that."