Luton Airport has reopened after it suspended all flights on account of an enormous hearth which brought about certainly one of its multi-storey automobile parks to partially collapse – with 4 firefighters and one member of airport workers taken to hospital with accidents.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service declared a serious incident at 9.38pm on Tuesday and, at its peak, had 15 hearth engines, three specialist aerial home equipment and greater than 100 firefighters on the scene.

The hearth service stated one-half of the automobile park was “fully involved in the fire” and the constructing has suffered a “significant structural collapse”.

Due to fly from Luton Airport? Here’s how the fire is affecting flights

Andrew Hopkinson, chief hearth officer at Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, stated the automobile park had as many as 1,500 autos in it on the time – with as much as 1,200 believed to be broken.

A short lived ramp was put in to allow undamaged autos to be eliminated.

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

He stated there was “no intelligence to suggest it’s anything other than an accidental fire that started in one of the vehicles”.

Mr Hopkinson added that the hearth probably began in a diesel automobile, earlier than spreading to close by autos.

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

Flights have been suspended till after 3pm on Wednesday, with a spokesperson for the airport confirming round 4pm that arrivals and departures from Luton’s runway had restarted.

Read extra: Video shows moment huge fireball engulfs car park

“Additional staff remain on hand to assist passengers across the airport,” a spokesperson informed Sky News shortly earlier than 4pm.

The first aircraft to land on the airport was a Wizz Air flight from Cardiff. A Ryanair flight from Luton to Lanzarote took off shortly earlier than 4pm.

It is believed round 25,000 airline passengers have been impacted by cancellations and delays, based on evaluation by the Press Association.

Overnight, firefighters have been trying to place out the large blaze and stop it from spreading to adjoining buildings and autos on the airport runway.

In an replace at 8.45am on Wednesday, the hearth service stated it had “controlled and extinguished” the blaze, however urged folks to keep away from the world on account of “severe traffic delays”.

“Four crews and an aerial appliance remain at the scene,” the service stated on X, previously often 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 hearth service stood down its main incident on Wednesday morning.

The East England Ambulance Service stated 4 firefighters and one member of airport workers have been taken to Luton and Dunstable Hospital following the hearth.

Another affected person was discharged on the scene.

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

“Our precedence stays supporting the emergency companies and the protection of our passengers and workers. Therefore, we’ve now taken the choice to droop all flights till 3pm on Wednesday eleventh October.

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

“For queries referring to a parked car or future reserving please contact luton.customerservices@apcoa.com.

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

Flames might be seen tearing by way of vehicles parked on an higher ground of Terminal Car Park 2 in movies posted on social media on Tuesday evening.

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

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Another witness stated his car was a type of contained in the multi-storey automobile park.

He stated he was contained in the airport when the hearth broke out, however is aware of his automobile has been affected as “all Car Park 2 is completely finished”.

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

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

“A couple of minutes later a lot of the higher ground was alight, automobile alarms have been going off with loud explosions from vehicles going up in flames.

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

Agnieske Szmit, 44, spent the evening sleeping on the benches of the terminal constructing after her and her household’s flight from Luton to Gdansk, in Poland, was cancelled on Tuesday night as a result of hearth.

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