Fire-fighting Procedures

After identifying the source of the lithium battery fire, fire-fighting procedures should be applied. Sometimes it is not possible to quickly identify the source of the fire, in which case the crew should still move forward with fire-fighting procedures.

Fire-fighting procedures involve a series of actions, as follows:

• Notify the pilot-in-command.
• Keep pilot-in-command informed.
• The cabin and flight crew should coordinate their actions and keep one another fully informed.
• Apply appropriate fire-fighting and emergency procedures according to training.
• If there is only one cabin crewmember, the aid of a passenger should be sought in dealing with the situation.
• A Halon extinguisher, a specialty type of fire extinguisher that contains a gas that interrupts the chemical reaction that takes place when fuels burn and does not leave a residue, or a water extinguisher should be used to extinguish the fire.
• Crew should don available PPE when fighting a fire.
• Crew should take prompt action to move passengers away from the area involved in the fire and, if necessary, provide wet towels or cloths and give instructions for passengers to breathe through them.
• Cabin crew should minimize the spread of smoke and fumes into the flight deck.
• Crew should use the interphone as the primary means of communication.