Laptop Fire Onboard American Airlines Flight Forces Passengers To Evacuate Onto Runway

An American Airlines flight was evacuated in San Francisco following an onboard fire that filled the cabin with smoke. Here's what we know about the incident so far.

Laptop Fire

American Airlines Flight 2045 was preparing for an on-time departure from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Miami (MIA). The flight was scheduled to depart at 12:17 pm. Pacific Time.

However, as the aircraft began its pushback from the gate, smoke started filling the cabin. This prompted the crew's "mayday" call and the aircraft's subsequent evacuation. The San Francisco Fire Department responded to the incident promptly.

Photos from the incident show that only the Airbus A321's middle two exit doors were used in the evacuation. Doors L2/R2 and L3/R3 are shown to have their escape slides fully deployed while the two forward and two aft exits remain closed.

This is because the aircraft was still attached to the jetbridge when the incident occurred, meaning many passengers evacuated through the jetbridge while others could get out through slides.

The smoke was soon found to be emanating from a laptop in a customer's bag, which the crew quickly removed from the aircraft.

In a statement by American Airlines, the carrier noted that all customers exited the aircraft safely. The statement thanked the crew for their professionalism and apologized to the customers for the inconvenience.

The San Francisco Fire Department initially noted that three people were injured during the evacuation, but none required medical transport.

Soon after, this claim was altered as one of the three injured passengers needed transportation for treatment.

The incident aircraft was a 9.5-year-old Airbus A321 registered N917UY. It had arrived the night before on a ferry flight from Los Angeles. As of now, Flight 2045 is scheduled to depart San Francisco with an 11-hour delay. Barring further delays, AA2045 will depart at 11:15 pm local time and arrive in Miami at 8:04 am local time.

It is unclear if the laptop fire damaged the aircraft's cabin. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will continue to investigate this incident.

Similar Incidents

Lithium-ion batteries have become commonplace in most technology. However, they can pose an inflight risk because they can overheat or short-circuit. 

Unfortunately, as more devices continue to be powered by these batteries, incidents involving them have increased. The FAA reported more than one lithium-ion battery-related incident per week in 2023, a 42% increase from the last five years.

In March of this year, a passenger's laptop battery caught fire onboard a Breeze Airways flight from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh, causing the flight to be diverted to Albuquerque.

Last year, in February 2023, a laptop battery caught fire onboard a United Airlines flight from San Diego to Newark. This device was found on fire in one of the First Class seat pockets.

The crew acted quickly to contain the fire by placing the device in a thermal containment bag. The flight safely returned to San Diego. Four flight attendants were taken to the hospital as a precaution, while two passengers were evaluated on-site.