Fire alarms rang out at Newark Liberty International Airport Sunday morning as a Starbucks filled Terminal A with heavy smoke. This coffee fire, however, did much more to inconvenience passengers aside from the hazard itself.

An Extra-Hot Brew

The fire reportedly happened around 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning when a fire was located inside a Starbucks concession stand in a part of Terminal A at Newark airport in New Jersey. While the cause of the fire has yet to be revealed, the building was entirely evacuated while firefighters were on their way to douse the flame.

X user Alysha Youngberg took a picture of the fire, creating a thick, black smoke around the area. She added, "Newark airport terminal A this morning. This is why I prefer @dunkindonuts".

Newark Airport's X account had two updates to share regarding the fire. Around a half hour before the fire was documented, Terminal A was reportedly undergoing "maintenance work", warning passengers to allow extra time when accessing Terminal A.

Newark then acknowledged a "building utility issue" in the terminal, advising passengers to check the status of their flights. Youngberg claimed on X that she was stuck at Newark airport for four hours "with no end in sight". The TSA checkpoints were also unavailable during that time. The terminal did eventually reopen, with the Starbucks location being closed and shuddered according to Youngberg's X account.

One Fire, Multiple Problems

Aside from travelers not being able to get their morning jobs, the Starbucks fire had several other consequences throughout Terminal A. Firstly, the evacuation delayed over a hundred departure flights at the airport, according to FlightAware. 

This reportedly affected thousands of passengers. With the sprinkler system activated, the water caused a baggage handling room to become flooded, with many belongings potentially damaged due to all the exposure to water. With TSA closing checkpoints during the fire, passengers feared that there would be major bottlenecking when the checkpoints reopened with long lines anticipated. X user Shawn Cicoria noted hundreds of people were “waiting just to check bags”. However, a report from TSA states that these lines were "quickly cleared".

As of this writing, there are no injuries reported. Newark Airport and affiliated airlines have yet to formally comment on the fire.
 

Terminal A at Newark Airport recently opened in January 2023 and consists of over a million square feet and 33 gates. The terminal is used by Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, JetBlue, Air Canada, and a portion of United Airlines flights. Newark Airport served a record 49.1 million passengers in 2023.