Luton Airport has reopened after it suspended all flights due to a huge fire which caused one of its multi-storey car parks to partially collapse – with four firefighters and one member of airport staff taken to hospital with injuries.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service declared a major incident at 9.38pm on Tuesday and, at its peak, had 15 fire engines, three specialist aerial appliances and more than 100 firefighters at the scene.
The fire service said one-half of the car park was “fully involved in the fire” and the building has suffered a “significant structural collapse”.
Due to fly from Luton Airport? Here’s how the fire is affecting flights
Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer at Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the car park had as many as 1,500 vehicles in it at the time – with up to 1,200 believed to be damaged.
A temporary ramp was installed to enable undamaged vehicles to be removed.
Mr Hopkinson said firefighters faced a “severe and rapidly spreading fire” on arrival, and the blaze “ultimately spread to multiple floors”.
He said there was “no intelligence to suggest it’s anything other than an accidental fire that started in one of the vehicles”.
Mr Hopkinson added that the fire likely started in a diesel car, before spreading to nearby vehicles.
“We don’t believe it was an electric vehicle,” he said.
Flights were suspended until after 3pm on Wednesday, with a spokesperson for the airport confirming around 4pm that arrivals and departures from Luton’s runway had restarted.
The burnt out shells of cars, buried amongst debris of a multi-storey car park at Luton Airport
Read more: Video shows moment huge fireball engulfs car park
“Additional staff remain on hand to assist passengers across the airport,” a spokesperson told Sky News shortly before 4pm.
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CCTV captures car park collapse
The first plane to land at the airport was a Wizz Air flight from Cardiff. A Ryanair flight from Luton to Lanzarote took off shortly before 4pm.
It is thought around 25,000 airline passengers were impacted by cancellations and delays, according to analysis by the Press Association.
Overnight, firefighters were attempting to put out the enormous blaze and prevent it from spreading to adjacent buildings and vehicles on the airport runway.
In an update at 8.45am on Wednesday, the fire service said it had “controlled and extinguished” the blaze, but urged people to avoid the area due to “severe traffic delays”.
Damage to the car park at Luton Airport
“Four crews and an aerial appliance remain at the scene,” the service said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“All flights are suspended until 3pm. If you have a flight leaving before 3pm, please do not travel. Please avoid the area owing to severe traffic delays.”
The fire service stood down its major incident on Wednesday morning.
The East England Ambulance Service said four firefighters and one member of airport staff were taken to Luton and Dunstable Hospital following the fire.
Another patient was discharged at the scene.
In a statement on X, Luton Airport said: “Emergency services remain on the scene following last night’s fire in Terminal Car Park 2.
“Our priority remains supporting the emergency services and the safety of our passengers and staff. Therefore, we have now taken the decision to suspend all flights until 3pm on Wednesday 11th October.
“Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport at this time, as access remains severely restricted.
“For queries relating to a parked vehicle or future booking please contact luton.customerservices@apcoa.com.
“Passengers should contact their airline for information regarding their flight.”
Flames could be seen tearing through cars parked on an upper floor of Terminal Car Park 2 in videos posted on social media on Tuesday night.
One witness told Sky News: “You could hear cars exploding.”
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‘You could hear cars exploding’
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Another witness said his vehicle was one of those inside the multi-storey car park.
He said he was inside the airport when the fire broke out, but knows his car has been affected as “all Car Park 2 is completely finished”.
Russell Taylor, 41, an account director from Kinross in Scotland, saw the flames after flying in to Luton Airport from Edinburgh.
He said: “There were a couple of fire engines with a car ablaze on the upper floor of the car park at just after 9pm.
“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.
“The speed in which the fire took hold was incredible.”
Agnieske Szmit, 44, spent the night sleeping on the benches of the terminal building after her and her family’s flight from Luton to Gdansk, in Poland, was cancelled on Tuesday evening due to the fire.
“We missed our work today, the children should be at school,” she said.
