First they heard a pop, then they saw the smoke.
"Then the stewardess yelled for everybody to get the hell out," said one passenger aboard Delta Flight 1558.Minutes later, the Boeing 727 -parked at Gate C-4 at the Salt Lake International Airport - was engulfed in a fireball that consumed the front third of the plane.
Six people were injured, five of them Delta employees, during the incident, which occurred about 2:20 p.m. Saturday. All were in satisfactory condition at LDS and Holy Cross hospitals Saturday night - five Delta employees suffering from smoke inhalation and a 68-year-old passenger suffering from chest pains. They were later released.
Passengers, meanwhile, were just thankful to be alive, praising God and their flight crew for their escape from disaster. Many were emotionally overcome by the the close call.
"I'm glad we prayed before we got on the plane," said Rick Sirockman, Alberta.
The fire couldn't have picked a better time to happen. The plane was on the ground, it was not being refueled, and most passengers had disembarked. What few passengers were left had easy access to a rear stairway.
"I don't know how everyone would have gotten off if it had been loaded all the way," said one Delta flight attendant who watched the blaze. "It happened so quick."
The plane had just arrived from Los Angeles en route to Edmonton, Alberta. Most passengers had stepped off the plane, though perhaps as many as two dozen remained in the aircraft.
Delta officials were preparing to load Salt Lake passengers en route to Edmonton when the fire erupted. "The few people that we had already put on board were taken off the back end of the plane through the rear stairs," said Fred H. Rollins, district director of marketing for Delta Airlines. The Boeing 727 was equipped with a stairway at the rear of the plane.
"Everybody got out real quick," said Sirockman, who was seated near the rear of the plane. "She (the flight attendant) was real good, very efficient. She really knew what to do. She got us moving quickly and we were out before the smoke ever got to us."
Terminal 2 was packed with Delta passengers awaiting a number of other Saturday afternoon flights. Upon seeing flames, hundreds pressed against the terminal glass for a better view.
Many were recording the event with video cameras and still cameras, but some began to panic at the thought the plane could explode with them standing only a few feet away. Airport authorities evacuated the terminal shortly thereafter.
The plane had been scheduled to depart for Edmonton at 2:42 p.m. Delta crews were preparing to load those traveling with small children and others needing assistance when the blaze broke out.
An airport police officer was standing on the ramp near the plane when he noticed an orange light, Ron Malin, airport operations manager said. "Shortly after that, there was a substantial amount of black smoke coming out."
The officer notified airport the dispatch center, which phoned the Salt Lake City Fire Department, Malin said.
The Airport Fire station rushed five units to the plane. Other fire stations in the city sent three rescue engines, a hazardous material unit, a fire truck, two light trucks and a battalion chief's truck, a Salt Lake County dispatcher said. Four ambulances also responded.
Malin said firefighters were on the scene within 90 seconds, though some passengers said the response time was much slower, saying firefighters did not arrive until almost 10 minutes after the plane was fully engulfed.
"Where were they?" said Edmonton resident Bill Goldstone, who had just stepped off the plane for a smoke. "I don't care what they say, they were extremely slow. That thing burned a long time before they showed up."
Ed Svekla, of Edmonton, said a single member of a ground crew fought the blaze with a hand-held fire extinguisher from the ground, but the liquid could not reach the flames overhead.
Svekla also said the response time was slow.
The fire burned a large hole, perhaps 5 feet square, in the galley area just behind the flight deck, and melted huge sections of the plane, most in the forward section. Fire spread toward the rear of the plane, severely damaging most of the interior, said Tim Phillips, director of airport operations for the Salt Lake Airport Authority.
"We have a fairly major penetration of the aircraft skin and substantial melting," he said, unable to estimate cost of repairing the aircraft.
Phillips said specially trained firefighters, who are stationed at the airport, quelled flames once with a foam liquid. The fire then "flashed" a second time before firefighters extinguished it for good.
Passengers, most of whom refused to discuss the incident, were removed to a special waiting area. "We blocked off the C concourse until the fire was under control," Malin said. Gates C-2, C-4 and C-6 were to remain closed until the damaged plane was moved Saturday evening.
Passengers who still wanted to go to Edmonton left Salt Lake about 4 p.m. aboard a Boeing 737, Rollins said. Delta created the special Edmonton flight to replace Flight 1558.
Flights scheduled to arrive and depart from the three closed gates were diverted to other gates, Malin said. Delta staffed the C concourse with employees who explained the changes to those headed for the closed gates.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the fire. Luggage aboard the aircraft will also be examined.