Plane engine catches fire on Florida tarmac, forcing evacuations

A dramatic fire erupted in the left engine of a Dynamic Airways jetliner at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., airport, forcing passengers to evacuate via emergency slides and causing 15 injuries, officials said Thursday.

There were 110 passengers and crew members aboard the flight en route to Caracas, Venezuela. The Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport was completely closed for several hours, but one of the runways was reopened in the afternoon.

One of those injured was in serious condition with burns, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles told a televised news conference. Two of the injured were described as less serious and the remaining 12 were “walking wounded,” with bumps and bruises, he said.

“Fires like this are something we train for,” Jachles said, adding the toll was kept down by the quick emergency response.

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The fire occurred on Dynamic Airways flight 405, which was scheduled to depart at 12:30 p.m. Dynamic connects Fort Lauderdale, New York, Venezuela and Guyana.

Officials, including the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, will investigate the cause of the fire, local officials said at the news conference. Initial suspicion fell on a possible leak in the engine that ignited.

A pilot on the plane in line to take off after the Dynamic jetliner reported seeing fluid leaking from the engine, according to an exchange recorded by the website, LiveATC.net.

“Hey, uh, Dynamic is, out of the left engine, it looks like it’s leaking a lot of -- I don’t know if it’s fuel, it’s fluid leaking out of the live engine,” the second plane’s pilot told Air Traffic Control, according to the audio posted by LiveATC.net.

“We copy. We’ll probably need to go back to the ramp,” the Dynamic pilot replied.

Then, just a few moments later, “Engine’s on fire! Engine’s on fire!” the pilot yelled.

No one answered calls to the airline’s headquarters in North Carolina and no one immediately responded to an email request for comment.

Twitter was flooded with images of the fire, smoke billowing into the air and first responders at the scene.

The airport was closed after the fire but one lane reopened about 3:30 p.m., airport spokesman Greg Myer said at the news conference.

Last month, fire broke out on a British Airways flight leaving Las Vegas, but it was quickly extinguished. Seven people suffered minor injuries.

That plane’s left engine caught fire and the crew aborted its takeoff, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement last month. Passengers exited using the emergency slides.

That flight was a Boeing 777-200.

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