SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Frantic moments captured from San Francisco International Airport on Friday during an emergency evacuation.
Officials said a fire came from a laptop battery inside a passenger’s bag.
Jan Jankai boarded the Miami-bound flight with his family around 1 p.m. on Friday.
“When we got to the back of the plane, we already started to smell somthing like burnt cables,” Jankai said.
Jankai was seated next to his father. The laptop belonged to the passenger sitting behind them.
“And then five seconds late, flames were coming out of his and my seat, mostly out of his seat it was a huge flame like a flash flame that went up all the way up to the ceiling,” Jankai said.
The American Airlines flight crew reported a fire in the cabin.
Passengers used emergency slides and the jet bridge to exit.
“Go forward, do not take your bags. Go forward!”
RELATED: Laptop battery fire prompts plane evacuation at San Francisco Airport; 3 injured, officials say
An American Airlines flight was evacuated and three people were injured a laptop battery fire was reported at SFO on Friday, officials said.
Jankai took a 2 minute and 33-second-long video of the evacuation that didn’t go as fast as he hoped.
“Oh my god, so many people took their bags, so many people took their bags out of the overhead compartment. I was also just screaming at one point – just leave your bags and get out,” Jankai said.
SFO authorities said three people were injured while evacuating the plane.
ABC7 spoke with Aviation Analyst John Nance.
“While it’s extremely serious to have any smoke or fumes in the cabin or the cockpit, it’s also extremely serious to call for an emergency evacuation because we’re going to hurt a few people. Not usually on a smaller airplane but still, people go down the slides the wrong way,” Nance said.
SKY7 captured the moment officials dipped the laptop in a bin of water.
When it comes to lithium battery fires on airlines – one former pilot, and now consultant, said it happens more than we think.
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Ross Sagun, founder of Sagun Aviation Consulting, was a professional pilot out of SFO for 41 years.
“The FAA says it occurs about once a week and there’s a 42% increase in the last five years, probably because everyone has electronic devices,” Sagun said.
Sagun said if this incident were to happen midair, the flight crew will have certain tools or procedures. During his time in the industry, the crew had a fireproof bag.
“This fireproof bag is about one square foot, it has Kevlar in it so it can contain an explosion, and it’s fireproof, and it comes with a set of fire proof gloves, somewhat like oven mitts,” Sagun said.
American Airlines issued a statement:
“During boarding of American Airlines flight 2045 with service from San Francisco (SFO) to Miami (MIA), smoke was reported from inside a customer’s bag. The bag was quickly removed by our crew members and all customers exited the aircraft. We thank our crew members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
Jankai said it was his father who threw out the backpack.
Nonetheless, he’s relieved the fire didn’t breakout during the six hour flight.
“I mean, I’m alive that’s probably the best thing that could’ve happened today,” Jankai said.
This was his first trip to the U.S. and a memorable one. Jankai and his family are visiting from Vienna, Austria.
“I mean, we have four more days. I don’t know what could go wrong at this point, but to finish it like that is kind of crazy,” Jankai said.
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