After cellphone caught fire on Southwest plane, passengers at Denver airport say there was panic, shouting
More than 100 passengers on a Southwest Airlines plane feared for their lives on Friday at Denver International Airport after a cellphone battery caught fire inside the cabin. The morning flight was heading out of Concourse C and about to take off when the chaos erupted.
Acrid smoke poured from the burning phone, leading some of the 108 passengers on Flight 3316 to panic.
The only person hurt was the woman who had the phone. Her hand was burned.
The plane was evacuated, and many passengers headed down a slide from cabin to the safety of the tarmac. They say the order to "Cross your arms jump" will remain etched in their minds.
Smoke and fire came suddenly
Some spoke about their experience later in the day after making it to their destination: Houston's William P. Hobby Airport.
"Everybody saw the smoke, because it kind of filled the back of the cabin. And then somebody screamed 'Fire.' Everybody kind of stood up, was trying to figure out what was happening," said passenger Jennifer Rodgers after arriving in Texas.
The smoke and fire was very sudden, according to passengers.
"It must have been burning pretty rapidly, because there was a pause, and then there was again 'Fire! Fire!' said passenger Seth Anderson, of Littleton, Colorado. "And then all of a sudden everybody just started getting up, and that's when all the panicking started on the plane."
Passengers were instructed to get out
"At least the fire was already out, but the smell was really bad from the lithium battery or whatever it was. A girl was holding a Samsung phone that sort of started smoking. It burned her hands. And they just told us to get out," said Rodgers.
Anderson and his wife Jacquetta were in the front of the plane. People stood up into the aisle so it was difficult to see what was going on in back. Flight attendants heading toward the rear had difficulty in their attempts to get through.
"There's nowhere to go, because they were exiting through the back of the plane. And so I kind of got pushed around a little bit," said Jaquetta Anderson. People were yelling leave your stuff she recalled, " But I actually had two dogs with me, and I wasn't going to leave them."
Crew kept people calm as best they could
A chute was deployed at the back of the plane for people in the back. For those in front the jetway was returned to the plane's front door, but that took time. The Andersons credit the crew with keeping people calm.
"I felt like they were doing a pretty good job communicating. I don't know if the pilot quite knew what was going on, just because everything just happened so so fast," said Anderson. "Even though it felt forever it. It was all happening really, really fast. I think they if they knew what was going on, I think they could have got that jet bridge over a little faster."
Small delay proved to be a good thing
Fortunately the Southwest plane had pushed back late due to some technical troubles as it was readied for the flight to Houston.
"I can't think enough about that," Anderson said. "That little delay that we had at the beginning. Really helped us keep on the ground while that was happening, because we would have been up in the air by that time and then that thing would have been on fire. While we were in the air."
"That would have been that would have been a catastrophe."
