Fire at Brussels International Airport

On the night of the Thursday May 4th, 2006, fire crew from Brussels International Airport were sent to a smoke-alarm at hangar 40. Hangar 40 is used by Sabena Technics for the maintenance of large aircrafts, and at the time of the fire, 4 planes were inside of it (3 transcontinental and 1 C-130 military airplane).

As the first reports of a working fire ran in, the City Fire Department (Zaventem) and Fire Department's from nearby were dispatched to the airport. Approximately 100 firefighters were on scene to battle the blaze. Despite the tremendous efforts to knock down the flames (next to the engines, ladders and tankers, even crash tenders assisted), the fire quickly spread through the hangar (which collapsed about 4 hours later, requiring a ladder-crew to flee for safety). During the fire, two workers from Sabena Technics and two firefighters required medical assistance and were brought to Saint-Luc's University Hospital of Brussels. Firefighters worked till Saturday noon to extinguish the last remnants of the fire.