CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities say today’s fire at an air traffic control center near Chicago was deliberately set by a contract employee — but they are ruling out any ties to terrorism.
The fire put a halt to air traffic at two of the nation’s busiest airports — Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway — for hours, and the delays and cancellations rippled through the air travel network from coast to coast. By midday, nearly 1,800 flights in and out of Chicago alone had been canceled.
Even after flights resumed, they were taking off and landing on a much reduced schedule, and there’s no word on when full service will resume.
The early morning fire forced the evacuation of the control center in Aurora, about 40 miles from downtown Chicago. Emergency crews found the man suspected of setting the fire in the basement. Authorities say he had multiple self-inflicted knife wounds as well as burns. They say he used gasoline to help spread the fire, and that there was some damage to wiring in the building.
Investigators don’t know of a possible motive. They say the Federal Aviation Administration contractor was authorized to be there.
The impact of the fire is raising questions about whether the FAA has adequate backup plans to keep planes moving when a single facility has to shut down.
%@AP Links
243-a-07-(Gregory Thomas, Aurora police chief, at news conference)-“was no explosion”-Aurora, Illinois police chief Gregory Thomas says emergency teams investigating a fire at a suburban Chicago air traffic control center early this morning found a man with self-inflicted stab wounds in the building’s basement. (26 Sep 2014)
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246-a-11-(Daniel Baker, CEO, Flightaware, in AP interview)-“major Chicago airports”-Daniel Baker of Flightaware says the ground stop in Chicago had a nationwide impact on air traffic. (26 Sep 2014)
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APPHOTO ILPB107: Dennis McCormack of Rockaway, N.J. checks the departure board only to find out that his flight to Newark, N.J. has been canceled at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Friday, Sept. 26, 2014. All flights in and out of Chicago’s two airports were halted Friday after a fire at a suburban air traffic control facility sent delays and cancellations rippling through the U.S. air travel network. Authorities said the blaze was intentionally set by a contract employee of the Federal Aviation Administration and had no ties to terrorism. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty) (26 Sep 2014)
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