By Cindy Clayton
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK, Va. — A Delta Airlines flight from Norfolk to Atlanta on Friday morning had just taken off when a cellphone battery not attached to a phone caught fire.
Delta officials said the battery was a spare but did not announce the battery type or what phone it went with. They are investigating.
About 15 minutes into Delta flight 2557, someone called out that there was a fire in Row 34, according to Virginian-Pilot reporter Robyn Sidersky, who was on the plane.
Kristi Parrotte, who was about two rows behind the smoldering battery, said the cabin was dark and she had settled in for a nap when she smelled smoke. She opened her eyes and saw people scrambling to figure out what was happening. A woman next to her opened the lavatory door and, in the light, saw a plume of smoke.
“It wasn’t a big flaming fire, it was more smoldering smoke,” Parrotte said.
Flight attendants were trying to figure out the smoke’s origin.
“We’re all up out of our seats wondering where the smoke was coming from and what to do,” Parrotte said.
A couple of passengers were helping flight attendants. One had a bottle of water and tried to douse the battery while the attendants got a fire extinguisher. The other helped get other passengers out of the smoke-filled area to the rear of the cabin.
“The passengers all worked really well together,” Parrotte said. “It was good to see.”
There were 143 passengers and five crew members aboard the plane, according to a Delta statement.
Sidersky, who was one row back on the opposite side of the row where the fire happened, said about 20 people were moved to the front of the plane and told to sit on the floor. The blaze was extinguished quickly, she said.
“The flight attendants responded quickly and knew what to do,” Sidersky wrote via direct message after the morning flight.
No one was hurt and the flight continued on as usual. There was some damage to the seats where the battery was on fire. The smoke cleared after a few minutes.
”We all made the comment that we see this kind of stuff on the news, but we’ve never seen this in person,” Parrotte said.
Pilot columnist Kerry Dougherty was on the same flight.
“You never appreciate flight attendants till there’s a fire in the cabin,” Dougherty tweeted Friday morning.
Travelers were told at the gate to keep their Samsung Galaxy Note7 phones turned off and not to charge them. Another announcement was made after passengers boarded the plane.
After the fire, passengers were told to turn off all cellphones, according to Parrotte and Sidersky.
Parrotte said flight attendants said the battery that burned was not attached to a phone. It was unclear who owned it, she said.
Delta officials said in the statement that the battery was a spare and that the source and type are being investigated. They also plan to work with aviation safety officials.
”Safety is always Delta’s top priority,” the statement said.
Sidersky said she received an emailed apology from Delta and bonus miles.
On Sept. 2, Samsung posted a notice on its website that its newly released Note7 had a battery cell issue and that the company would replace the phone with a new one. At that time, 35 cases of batteries catching fire had been reported to the company and it stopped sales of the phone.
Copyright 2016 The Virginian-Pilot