A massive fire at a parking garage in London’s Luton Airport suspended flights starting Tuesday night, stranding hundreds and leaving 1,500 cars inaccessible to owners.
Flights are resuming Wednesday, and first responders say that there were no fatalities in the fire, which is believed to have been caused by a diesel-powered vehicle, according to the Guardian.
Luton is one of the biggest and busiest airports in Britain. It comes in fifth in the country, serving some 13.3 million travelers in 2022, as Reuters reports. It’s no wonder the local fire department closed the whole airport to contain the fire, leading to flight arrivals being diverted to other airports and departures being cancelled altogether. Footage featured by the Guardian shows first responders fighting the flames, which left the multi-story car park partially collapsed.
The fire began late Tuesday at Terminal car park 2, and Bedfordshire fire service declared a major incident shortly before 10:00 p.m. The authorities reportedly ruled out the possibility of the fire being caused intentionally. Travelers, however, were not informed of the cause and many were clueless as to what caused the delays and cancellations. Some airlines, like EasyJet, said they’d cover expenses due to the fire, but only where these were applicable.
The car park holds up to 1,900 cars, though the Guardian says an estimated 1,500 vehicles were inside at the time. Hundreds of them were charred along with the structure of the garage, which suffered a partial collapse, crushing some vehicles. Explosions could be heard in the footage of the incident, likely coming from certain cars as the flames stretched out along the columns and rows of the car park. Vehicle alarms wailed as half of the garage was engulfed in flames.
Notably, the car park was a relatively new structure; it had been part of a redevelopment project completed in 2018, costing the airport £160 million, or about $197 million at current exchange rates, per the Guardian. This latest parking garage was closest to Luton airport’s area of departures, and, yet, the building was not fitted with a fire sprinkler system. None of the adjacent structures seem to be harmed.
First responders said they rendered aid to one member of the public and six firefighters. Those treated were not burned or otherwise seriously injured, but they were affected by smoke inhalation in the fire. Up to 15 fire engines were on the scene last night, although only a fraction remained by Wednesday morning.
Travel to and from the airport will resume Wednesday. A ramp was installed to extricate the vehicles that were unharmed by the fire, but the fire service has to deem the structure safe beforehand and it’s unclear when that will happen.
