9 injured, dozens of flights canceled or delayed after fire breaks out at JFK Airport
JAMAICA, Queens (WABC) -- Nine people suffered minor injuries and dozens of flights were impacted after a small fire broke out at JFK Airport on Wednesday morning.
The fire broke out on an escalator in Concourse C and spewed smoke through Terminal 8 around 7:15 a.m.
About 960 people were evacuated from the area and taken to another part of the terminal. Nine people were injured -- all with minor smoke inhalation -- and four were taken to the hospital to be checked out.
The FDNY ventilated the terminal and it was cleared to reopen.
American Airlines, which occupies the terminal, said three American Eagle regional departures were canceled as a result of the fire, out of 89 total American flights scheduled to depart from Kennedy on Wednesday.
Videos posted to social media captured the resulting chaos that broke out.
Hundreds of passengers never got off the ground and hundreds more were held on the tarmac.
Johnny St Louis and Emmanuel Germain returned to New York from Boston this afternoon after a two-hour delay but they were lucky.
"All I was thinking about is getting home. That's all we were thinking about. We're tired and we want to get home and that's all," St. Louis said.
American Airlines felt the brunt of the impact, which resulted in a huge number of delays nationwide.
At least one in four American Airlines flights was delayed. Scores of others were canceled, altogether.
Christian Shaefer and his family were still waiting for their luggage after their American flight from Bermuda was canceled yesterday-rebooked this morning-then delayed several hours because of the fire.
"If we're just being told what time the flight was going to leave would have been okay. But the fact that it was just delayed and delayed and delayed and we couldn't leave the airport. So we look in on the on the board and it said, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00. We said, 'Is it coming in?" And there was just no information and there was five or six people and we were just getting nothing." Shaefer said.
By midmorning, Terminal 8 was fully-ventilated and back in operation with delays lingering.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation.
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