Luton Airport fire: All flights suspended after massive blaze causes terminal car park to partially collapse

All flights have been suspended at Luton Airport after a huge fire caused one of its multi-storey car parks to partially collapse – with four firefighters and one member of airport staff taken to hospital with injuries.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service declared a major incident at 9.38pm on Tuesday and, at its peak, had 15 fire engines, three specialist aerial appliances and more than 100 firefighters at the scene.

The fire service said one half of the car park was “fully involved in the fire” and the building has suffered a “significant structural collapse”.

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Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer at Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the car park had as many as 1,500 vehicles in it at the time – with up to 1,200 believed to be damaged.

A temporary ramp is being installed to enable undamaged vehicles to be removed.

Mr Hopkinson said firefighters faced a “severe and rapidly spreading fire” on arrival, and the blaze “ultimately spread to multiple floors”.

The cause of the fire is being investigated, though Mr Hopkinson said there is “no intelligence to suggest it’s anything other than an accidental fire that started in one of the vehicles”.

He added the fire likely started in a diesel car, before spreading to nearby vehicles.

“We don’t believe it was an electric vehicle,” he said.

Flights have been suspended until at least 3pm on Wednesday.

Around 25,000 airline passengers are thought to have been impacted by cancellations and delays, according to analysis by the Press Association (PA).

“If you are scheduled to have a flight before 3pm, then the advice is not to travel to the airport,” added Mr Hopkinson.

He urged those due to travel on Wednesday to check with their airline for updates.

Overnight, firefighters were attempting to put out the enormous blaze and prevent it from spreading to adjacent buildings and vehicles on the airport runway.

In an update at 8.45am on Wednesday, the fire service said it had “controlled and extinguished” the blaze, but urged people to avoid the area due to “severe traffic delays”.

“Four crews and an aerial appliance remain at the scene,” the service said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“All flights are suspended until 3pm. If you have a flight leaving before 3pm, please do not travel. Please avoid the area owing to severe traffic delays.”

The fire service stood down its major incident on Wednesday morning.

The East England Ambulance Service said four firefighters and one member of airport staff were taken to Luton and Dunstable Hospital following the fire.

Another patient was discharged at the scene.

In a statement on X, Luton Airport said: “Emergency services remain on the scene following last night’s fire in Terminal Car Park 2.

“Our priority remains supporting the emergency services and the safety of our passengers and staff. Therefore, we have now taken the decision to suspend all flights until 3pm on Wednesday 11th October.

“Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport at this time, as access remains severely restricted.

“For queries relating to a parked vehicle or future booking please contact luton.customerservices@apcoa.com.

“Passengers should contact their airline for information regarding their flight.”

Flames could be seen tearing through cars parked on an upper floor of Terminal Car Park 2 in videos posted on social media on Tuesday night.

One witness told Sky News: “You could hear cars exploding.”

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Another witness said his vehicle was one of those inside the multi-storey car park.

He said he was inside the airport when the fire broke out, but knows his car has been affected as “all Car Park 2 is completely finished”.

Russell Taylor, 41, an account director from Kinross in Scotland, saw the flames after flying in to Luton Airport from Edinburgh.

He said: “There were a couple of fire engines with a car ablaze on the upper floor of the car park at just after 9pm.

“A few minutes later most of the upper floor was alight, car alarms were going off with loud explosions from cars going up in flames.

“The speed in which the fire took hold was incredible.”

Agnieske Szmit, 44, spent the night at sleeping on the benches of the terminal building after her and her family’s flight from Luton to Gdansk, in Poland, was cancelled on Tuesday evening due to the fire.

“We missed our work today, the children should be at school,” she said.