Fire Halts Flights at London’s Luton Airport
In an unforeseen turn of events, the hustle and bustle at London’s Luton Airport was put on hold as a fire ravaged a recently constructed parking garage, causing turmoil for thousands of travelers and grounding all flights. The blaze, which ignited on Tuesday evening, resulted in four firefighters and an airport staff member seeking medical attention for smoke inhalation.
The airport promptly announced a suspension of all flights until at least 3 p.m. on Wednesday, urging prospective passengers to stay away due to the ongoing presence of emergency response teams.
Situated approximately 35 miles north of central London, Luton Airport serves as a prominent hub for airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair, facilitating travel to various destinations in the United Kingdom and Europe. Some stranded passengers found themselves at the nearby railway station as they coped with the airport’s closure.
Nikodem Lesiak, a university student heading back to Poland, described his experience, stating, “When we got here, we found out Luton is burning and everything is closed, and we were supposed to have our flight at 7:50 today but it was canceled.”
Social media and British news outlets depicted video footage of the fire’s destructive path, with police and fire department vehicles converging on a multi-story parking facility where the top floor was ablaze. A section of Terminal 2’s parking garage had partially collapsed.
In addition to the five individuals hospitalized, another person received on-site treatment. Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service reported that they were closely monitoring the smoldering aftermath on Wednesday. Chief Fire Officer Andrew Hopkinson noted that the fire is believed to have originated from a diesel vehicle, and the newly unveiled parking garage lacked sprinklers. Authorities have no reason to suspect that the fire was started intentionally.
Russell Taylor, an account director from Kinross in Scotland, was an eyewitness to the unfolding events. He described the initial sighting of a car on fire on the upper level, which rapidly escalated into an alarming situation. “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 recounted. “The speed in which the fire took hold was incredible.”
This unfortunate incident has certainly disrupted the plans of many, but safety remains the top priority as investigations into the incident continue.