D Concourse at Hartsfield-Jackson Partially Evacuated After Small Explosion
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport
Part of Concourse D at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport was evacuated Tuesday morning after a small explosion.
Airport officials say the explosion occurred around 8:40 a.m. in a maintenance shop facility at gate D21. There were no injuries, but some power and air conditioning were lost. Marty Haynes arrived at the concourse after it was partially evacuated.
“It was just really crowded down there. I don’t know, maybe 1,000 to 1,500 hundred people down at the bottom of escalators. People were, you know, getting a little short-tempered and moving around and wanting to do something, so I decided to get out of there.”
About two hours after the explosion, power was restored and operations returned to normal.
Airport spokesman Reese McCranie says officials don’t believe the explosion was intentional, but the investigation continues.
“What we’ve been able to determine so far is that it was a mechanical failure for a small electrical unit that supplies power to the air conditioning in other areas of Concourse D. Once that failed, the air conditioning and power went out.
U.S. Airways says the explosion occurred when “an electrical transformer that was located above the drop ceiling around the area of our gate D21 was overloaded and blew.” The airline canceled two flights and diverted another to Charlotte. Several other airlines experienced minimal delays. Airlines say their flight schedules have since returned to normal.
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