Spirit Airlines had a fire suppression system “inadvertently activated” Friday, July 4, after at its Detroit Metro Airport Spirit Airlines hangar, a statement from the airline said. There was no fire, no impact to the day’s flight operations, and no injuries resulted from the incident, the airline said.
The incident, which happened in the afternoon around 5 p.m., may have been caused by a lightning strikes. There were two aircraft that were parked inside the hangar at the time, and one that was parked outside, “were removed from service for inspection by our maintenance team,” the airline said.
There was an Airbus A321 and a slightly smaller Airbus A320. The hangar doors were open at the time of activation and the foam seeped out onto the ramp where three additional Spirit aircraft were parked.
Foam fire systems are fairly standard in large maintenance hangars, but come with a major drawback — the foam is highly corrosive to multiple aircraft systems, including wiring. The five aircraft have been taken out of service for extensive inspections to ensure that the foam hasn’t caused any damage.
A statement released by the airline said: “On July 4, the fire suppression system at our Detroit (DTW) maintenance facility was inadvertently activated, which we believe was caused by lightning nearby. There was no fire, and no injuries were reported. Two aircraft parked inside the facility and one aircraft parked outside the facility were removed from service for inspection by our maintenance team.”
The spokesperson added, “We have engaged a contractor to assist with cleanup efforts, and we thank first responders for their quick response and assistance. There is no impact on our flight operations.” Spirit also thanked the local first responders for their prompt assistance.