Luton Airport Flights Resume After Massive Fire Rips Through Car Park

Luton Airport Flights Resume After Massive Fire Rips Through Car Park

Flights at Luton Airport have resumed after a massive fire ripped through a terminal car park on Tuesday evening.

The fire, which destroyed important structures, started at about 20:45 BST, and no serious injuries were reported.

Tens of thousands of passengers are believed to have been affected by flight delays. The first commercial flights resumed just after 15:00 BST.

Four firefighters and a member of airport staff were treated for the effects of breathing in smoke as they battled the huge blaze.

It broke out on level three of the terminal two car park and was thought to have started in a diesel car and spread rapidly.

One witnessed said he saw an explosion on the roof of the car park followed by a “flame that shot across the car park like a flamethrower.”

After that, he saw cars exploding “every few minutes.”

Firefighters remain on site working with the airport fire service, monitoring hot spots.

The car park is believed to hold up to 1,900 vehicles, and hundreds of cars may have been damaged.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is still ongoing.

Andy Hopkinson, Bedfordshire’s chief fire officer, said the service had “no intelligence than to suggest it was anything other than an accidental fire.”

He said it was thought the fire started in a “diesel-powered” car and then spread through the building.

The car park did not appear to have sprinklers, according to Mr Hopkinson, and he said a recommendation for sprinklers in any redevelopment would be made to the airport.

He explained to reporters that the car park’s open sides would have allowed the fire to spread “horizontally” before it went up through the building.

A ramp would be installed on the unaffected part of the car park to help remove unaffected vehicles, he added.

He said: “There is a substantial number that is not damaged, and our focus as well is can we remove those vehicles safely without causing any danger to the responders?”

The airport said passengers arriving by car could now use the long – and mid-stay car parks, while a temporary drop-off was established at the mid-stay car park

However, the DART shuttle remained closed, and replacement buses were in operation.

Travel expert and broadcaster Simon Calder said: “I have calculated that there are between 40,000 and 50,000 people who will have their travel plans wrecked today.”

Declan Dever, from Westport in Ireland, said: “It’s no-one’s fault – just have to grin and bear it.”

He was trying to get back home for his brother’s 80th birthday, after his 11:00 flight was cancelled.

The 65-year-old said he was lucky not to be in a rush but added, “I feel sorry for people, I see children in there asleep on the ground, I feel sorry for that.”