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Screen dump from Calgary airport conveyor belt video
20 Mar 2018

Airport baggage unloading fire next to airplane filmed by passenger at international airport

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A conveyor belt caught on fire right next to an airplane which was being unloaded at the Calgary International Airport on Tuesday March 13. The dramatic looking fire was caught on video by a passenger.

Passenger Liz Robb was at the airport waiting for a connecting flight back home to Ontario when she saw the fire on the tarmac at around 10:30 p.m., reports Global News.

“I was hanging out in a lounge waiting for a later flight when I heard some people talking about fire on the tarmac,” she explained. “So we all got up to look out the window.”

 

Photo: Screen dump from passenger video
Screen dump from passenger video.

Click here to watch the video

Airport staff tried using using a hose in an attempt to douse the but they were ineffective. Plumes of smoke were billowing from the conveyor, which was directly next to a WestJet plane.

Robb said she was recording for about four minutes before fire crews arrived on scene. She said it was all over within about 10 minutes.

“It wasn’t that it was a horrifically poor response time; it just seemed like a bit of a long time. But maybe they delayed contacting them thinking the first two people would have been successful putting it out,” she said.

“The fire department, when they got there, were able to extinguish it quickly.”

The Calgary Fire Department said it received a call to attend the WestJet terminal at around 10:30 p.m. and the fire was immediately doused.

No damage was reported to the plane and no one was injured. The fire department said passengers were never at risk.

Calgary fire investigators are still investigating the cause of the fire as of Wednesday night.

“Emergency crews were called and were able to quickly extinguish the fire, preventing any damage to the aircraft,” WestJet spokesperson Lauren Stewart said in an email to Global News.

WestJet originally said no passengers were on the plane at the time, but an updated statement said “our flight crew ensured that guests were quickly removed from the area.”