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13 October 2023
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Fire breaks out at UK international airport, injuring five and leaving 25 000 travellers stranded
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A massive fire engulfed a new parking garage at a major UK airport, injuring five people and leaving some 25 000 travellers stranded with major delays Wednesday, 11 October 2023. Video showed the raging fire consuming the top floor of the multi-storey parking garage late Tuesday at terminal 2 in Luton Airport, an international hub for budget airlines just outside London.
The local fire department said up to 1 200 cars could have been in the car park at the time, and that as of 0600 GMT emergency crews were expected to remain on the scene for a number of hours. “One half of the structure was fully involved in fire and the building suffered a significant structural collapse," the fire department added, while declaring this as a major incident.
A full investigation would be undertaken to determine the cause of the fire, they said.
The fire is thought to have started around 21h00 with a diesel vehicle and rapidly spread to other cars inside the packed garage, which was not equipped with a sprinkler system, said Chief Fire Officer Andrew Hopkinson.
Four firefighters and an airport employee were taken to area hospitals suffering from smoke inhalation after the fire. A sixth person was treated at the scene.
The speed in which the fire took hold was incredible,” said Russell Taylor, 41, who saw the blaze after flying in from his native Scotland. He first saw fire engines tackling an engulfed car, he said. “A few minutes later most of the upper floor was alight, car alarms were going off with loud explosions from cars going up in flames,” he said.
Authorities said they do not believe the fire was started intentionally inside the garage, which was said to house up to 1 500 vehicles.
At least 140 flights that were scheduled to take off or land at the airport were cancelled Wednesday and an additional 17 flights had to be diverted to other airports. Passengers were asked to stay away from Luton Airport as firefighters continued working at the scene. Some would-be travellers had to wait for hours at the nearby railway station.
Luton is Britain's fifth busiest airport after Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester, and it handled 13,3 million passengers in 2022, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Sources: New York Post, Euro News
The local fire department said up to 1 200 cars could have been in the car park at the time, and that as of 0600 GMT emergency crews were expected to remain on the scene for a number of hours. “One half of the structure was fully involved in fire and the building suffered a significant structural collapse," the fire department added, while declaring this as a major incident.
A full investigation would be undertaken to determine the cause of the fire, they said.
The fire is thought to have started around 21h00 with a diesel vehicle and rapidly spread to other cars inside the packed garage, which was not equipped with a sprinkler system, said Chief Fire Officer Andrew Hopkinson.
Four firefighters and an airport employee were taken to area hospitals suffering from smoke inhalation after the fire. A sixth person was treated at the scene.
The speed in which the fire took hold was incredible,” said Russell Taylor, 41, who saw the blaze after flying in from his native Scotland. He first saw fire engines tackling an engulfed car, he said. “A few minutes later most of the upper floor was alight, car alarms were going off with loud explosions from cars going up in flames,” he said.
Authorities said they do not believe the fire was started intentionally inside the garage, which was said to house up to 1 500 vehicles.
At least 140 flights that were scheduled to take off or land at the airport were cancelled Wednesday and an additional 17 flights had to be diverted to other airports. Passengers were asked to stay away from Luton Airport as firefighters continued working at the scene. Some would-be travellers had to wait for hours at the nearby railway station.
Luton is Britain's fifth busiest airport after Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester, and it handled 13,3 million passengers in 2022, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Sources: New York Post, Euro News
