Planned Attack Works at Jetliner Fire
Wide World Photos
CLIFF DEKTAR
Instant reaction by a two-man Los Angeles City Fire Department crash crew prevented major life loss and injury when a Continental Airlines DC-10 blew two tires and crashed at the east end of Runway 5-Right at the Los Angeles International Airport at 9:25 a.m. March 1.
It almost was a textbook attack on the burning widebody jet. Crash crews extinguished the flames and helped minister to the injured. Only two persons died and 73 were injured.
The department’s rescue ambulance and the county’s medical emergency system also worked with almost textbook simplicity.
At 9:23 a.m. the DC-10 started down the runway carrying a crew of 14 and 184 passengers. Takeoff weight was 429,700 pounds, including 18,000 gallons of jet-A fuel.
Jet fuel ignites
At 156 knots, severe vibration occurred when two front tires on the main landing gear blew out. The aircraft was unable to stop, ran off the east end of the runway at a speed above 60 knots, but due to the skill of the pilot, missed hitting a fence and a car rental facility with buildings, gas pumps and cars.
The left landing gear, instead of shearing away cleanly as designed, tore out the fuel tank wall at the junction of tanks 1 and 2, allowing jet fuel to spill on the runway. The dipping wing apparently sparked and the fuel ignited.
The main body of the fire was on the left side of the aircraft and evacuation began on the right side. Three doors were opened on the left side and several passengers used these exits in panic.
At Station 80-North Acting Captain Jim McJannet was looking out the window when he heard the popping of the tires and saw rubber flying in all directions.
He tripped the ring-down to 80-South at 9:25 and F’ngineer Tom Kaiser (the third man on the shift was off having a physical) and he rolled Crash 1 east on the runway after the lumbering aircraft. They saw the fuel ignite, radioed LACFD communications, “We have an aircraft crash east end of the runway. Respond a full assignment.”
Passengers on fire
Within 90 seconds they were at the crash site. They could see the fire on the left and people evacuating on the right. They saw several passengers with their clothing on fire. The turret and bumper monitors were directed toward these people and the aqueous film-forming foam extinguished the ground fire and the people on fire.
Fire communications had been alerted by Crash 1, but the airport control tower almost simultaneously notified 80-South and fire communications of the crash by a joint alert system.
The alert brought not only the rapid response vehicle (RRV), Crashes 2 and 3, and Engine 80, but also Task Force 95 (two triples, a truck and Rescue 295), Task Force 5, Paramedic Rescue 5 and Battalion 4 commander, Chief Phil St. Hilaire, plus Task Forces 63 and 66.
Task Force 80 commander, Captain Bob Engel, arrived at 9:29 with the RRV taking a position at the tail of the aircraft. The RRV used its turret to extinguish the fire under the tail section. The captain directed Crashes 2 and 3 to attack the main fire on the left side and directed Engine 80 to ladder the aircraft to help with search and rescue. Other fire fighters took foam hand lines of the crash units and extinguished the remaining ground fire under the plane.
The main fire was out by 9:30 a.m.
More ambulances called
At Station 5, the fire fighters had seen were already responding. St. Hilaire called for five additional ambulances, Battalion 8, Division 2 and an aqueous film-forming foam company, LW 34.
RA 5 did not begin first aid to the injured—but as per operating procedure, set up triage as ambulance control.
A command post was established inside the airport’s 96th Street entrance and the County Medic Alert Center dispatched triage teams from L.A. County-USC Medical Center by L.A. County Fire Department helicopter and private ambulance.
Hospitals were alerted by the county’s HEAR radio alert and were preparing for several hundred casualties.
Flown to burn center
Marina Mercey Hospital was designated as burn triage control, but was not needed for that purpose. One badly burned victim was flpwn to the burn center at County-USC by County Fire Air Squad 10.
Uninjured passengers were taken to the Continental cafeteria, where they were examined by triage teams and treated as required. Others injured were taken to area hospitals.
At a review of the operation, St. Hilaire noted that all fire and rescue operations went according to pre-fire plans, but that the position of the aircraft on an accessible portion of the field, the quick response, the effectiveness of the AFFF, and the cross wind out of the east that helped hold the fire out of the cabin all played key roles in the rescue.
L.A. City has plans to place an RRV with Crash 1 at 90-North and rebuild 80-South for quicker access to the runway complex.
