Ten people have been hospitalized after a Spirit Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Jacksonville, Florida due to a fire inside the cabin, WTLV reports.
Spirit Airlines flight 259 departed from Dallas around 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday bound for Orlando, but after the fire broke out the plane had to land at Jacksonville International Airport at around 4:00 p.m. A battery from a passenger’s “personal item” ignited a fire in the overhead bins on the plane, filling the cabin with smoke. It took approximately twenty minutes for crew members, and a few passengers, to put out the fire.
“I was right across from a luggage bin and I saw smoke coming out of it and I wasn’t sure what it was. And then all of a sudden just a ton of smoke came out,” said passenger Kerri Arakawa. "“There was a retired fireman that jumped up and a flight crew came in and they tried putting water on it. ... And then another guy went and got a bucket, because I think the fireman reached in and grabbed it and they got it put out.”
The retired firefighter in question is assumedly Rocco Chierichella, who spoke with WJXT about helping to put out the blaze. “It was starting to drop altitude and somebody yelled, ‘fire.’ Smoke was billowing out of it,” said Chierichella, who added that he has burns on his fingers as a result of the fire. “And what it was, was a battery-powered vape tied to a battery charging inside the compartment. Very dangerous. And it ignited a piece of luggage next to it.”
Initially, per the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, just one person was taken to hospital, but more began to fall ill due to smoke inhalation in the hours that followed. Ultimately ten passengers in total were taken to a nearby hospital.
“Spirit Airlines flight 259 from Dallas (DFW) to Orlando (MCO) diverted to Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) following what’s believed to be a battery fire from a Guest item in an overhead bin that was extinguished inflight,” reads a Spirit Airlines statement on the incident. “The plane landed at JAX and taxied to the terminal without incident. We thank our crew and Guests for their quick actions to ensure the safety of everyone onboard, and we thank first responders for meeting the aircraft. “
