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A Spirit Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Orlando International Airport was forced to make an emergency landing in Jacksonville, Florida after a battery caught on fire in an overhead bin.
As smoke filled the cabin, passenger Rocco Chierichella rushed to assist. Chierichella, who is a retired firefighter, opened the overhead bin and found the piece of luggage that had caught on fire. He helped the flight crew extinguish the flames, suffering minor burns to his hands.
"Smoke was billowing out of it," Chierichella told WJXT. "And what it was, was a battery-powered vape tied to a battery charging inside the compartment. Very dangerous. And it ignited a piece of luggage next to it."
While the flames were extinguished, the cabin was still filled with smoke.
"Everyone calmed down a bit, and we all clapped, but it was still really hard to breathe in there," another passenger, Joseph Fleck, told the news station. "The fumes were terrible."
Once the plane safely landed, it took about an hour for the passengers to be evacuated from the plane. Ten people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Fleck shared a video and several photos of the incident on Twitter. He said that he was forced to take a $250 Uber to get to Orlando, but later added that Spirit gave him a full refund for the flight, a $100 future travel voucher, food vouchers, and reimbursement for the $200 Uber ride to Orlando.
"This was no fault of Spirit, they handled things with great respect. I only wish we had been able to evacuate the plane once we landed," he tweeted.