Laptop battery fire prompts plane evacuation at San Francisco Airport; 3 injured, officials say

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — An American Airlines flight was evacuated and three people were injured after fire from a laptop battery was reported at San Francisco International Airport on Friday, officials said.

According to the airlines, passengers were boarding American Airlines Flight 2045 to Miami around 1:05 p.m. when the crew reported fire in the cabin. The aircraft was evacuated and SFFD responded to extinguish the smoke source.

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At least three people were injured while evacuating the plane. The injuries were minor, according to SFO authorities.

SFFD officials say all other passengers were transported back to the terminal.

On X, formerly Twitter, one passenger wrote: “Our American Airlines flight to Miami at SFO caught fire as we were boarding. looked to the back of the plane and saw sooo much and people screaming. something int he backpack below seems to be what caught the fire?”

Chris Vogt’s post on X said: “Someone’s bag caught on fire in the cabin of AA2045 at SFO an hour right before we took off. And it wasn’t even a Boeing plane.”

He also posted: “There was a light stampede, people were screaming ‘fire in the back’ and rushing towards the doors, but supposedly everyone is OK.”

American Amerlines issued a statement, saying the cause of the evacuation was from “smoke” reported from a laptop in a passenger’s bag:

“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.”

SKY7 was over the scene when firefighters could be seen placing what appeared to be a laptop in a tub of water. The fire department confirmed that the smoke on the plane was because of a lithium ion battery inside a laptop, which sparked a fire.

SFFD Captain Baxter said that this does not happen often and the department confirmed that a fire was extinguished prior to their arrival.

SFFD officials tell ABC7 News that the proper way to put out a lithium-ion battery fire is to place it in water.

Friday afternoon, ABC7 News shared the news with some travelers including Mike Shedd.

“We take these risks when we fly like this. But people don’t pay attention to that battery thing. Is everything turned off? That could have been the problem if the bag was smoking. The laptops we carry around so casually can be pretty dangerous,” Shedd said.

Stay with ABC7 News for the latest details on this developing story.