Battery Fire In Bin On Spirit Flight To FL Causes Plane To Divert

JACKSONVILLE, FL — About 10 passengers were hospitalized after a battery fire in an overhead bin forced a flight from Texas to Florida to make an emergency landing, according to multiple reports.

The Spirit Airlines flight 259 took off from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and was bound for Orlando International Airport when the fire broke out Wednesday afternoon, according to News4Jax.com. The fire caused the plane to divert to Jacksonville International Airport around 2 p.m.

An item in a passenger’s bag appears to have caused the fire, reports said. Those onboard helped crew members put out the flames.

"There was a retired fireman that jumped up and flight crew came in and they tried putting water on it and another guy went and got a bucket because I think the fireman reached in and grabbed it and they got it put out, but it took about 20 minutes,” a passenger, Kerri Arakawa, told First Coast News.

A tweet from another passenger on the flight indicates a vaping device might have been the cause of the fire.

“Charging a vape in a small confined space in an airplane at 350,000 feet is one of the dumbest things anyone can do,” Joseph Fleck tweeted Thursday morning. “This happen(s) all too often. This could have easily been so much worse. We had God and a retired (New York Fire Department) firefighter with us to be our hero.”

Fleck also tweeted videos and pictures from the smoke-filled cabin.

While one person was initially hospitalized after the event, others, including crew members, sought treatment later in the day, reports said.

"It was not until almost 6 o’clock that more people started feeling bad, and we then turned it into what we call a (mass casualty incident) level 1," Capt. Eric Proswimmer, Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department, said. "We ended up transporting a total of 10 patients from this flight.”

Spirit Airlines told CBS News that it arranged alternative transportation to Orlando for passengers on the flight.

Fleck tweeted that no other planes were available after the emergency landing and passengers arranged their own transportation. He said the airline reimbursed his family for the $250 Uber ride to Orlando, refunded their flight, and offered a $100 future travel voucher and food vouchers.

“This was no fault of Spirit, they handled things with great respect,” he tweeted. “I only wish we had been able to evacuate the plane once we landed.”