Updated 09/26/14 – 12:37 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) – Some flights in and out of O’Hare and Midway airports have resumed “at a reduced rate,” more than five hours after all flights were halted at both airports, due to a fire at a radar facility in Aurora, apparently started by a disgruntled FAA contractor.
Law enforcement sources said investigators believe the man lit several fires inside the basement telecommunications room of the FAA Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora, and then tried to commit suicide. Aurora Police Chief Greg Thomas said the man suffered burns and knife wounds, and was being treated at a hospital.
CBS 2’s Jay Levine reports the damage to the computers that control the facility’s radar and communications systems is extensive.
Authorities responded to the fire at about 5:45 a.m., and it was quickly extinguished, but the fire forced officials to evacuate the radar facility, and it has remained closed since.
Firefighters respond to the FAA Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora on Friday. (Credit: CBS)
More than 700 flights were canceled at O’Hare International Airport as a result of the fire, and more than 150 were canceled at Midway International Airport, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.
As of 10:30 a.m., the FAA said some flights were being allowed to take off and land at the two airports at a reduced rate.
The ground stop created a nightmarish ripple effect for travelers across the country.
Thomas said an FAA contract employee at the facility apparently set the fires, and suffered burns and self-inflicted knife wounds. CBS 2’s Mike Puccinelli reports it was not immediately clear if the employee was deliberately trying to sabotage equipment at the facility, but Thomas said there was no explosion and the fire was not a terrorist act.
“This is just a local issue with a contract employee,” Thomas said.
A second man suffered smoke inhalation from the fire, and was treated and released.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said fire investigators were at the scene, as part of the DuPage County Fire Investigation task force. The ATF, FBI, FAA, and Aurora police and fire officials were conducting a joint investigation. Authorities could be seen removing a dark blue or black SUV from the facility late Friday morning.
Lines at ticket counters at Midway International Airport were extremely crowded Friday morning, after all flights in and out were halted due to a fire at an FAA radar facility. (Credit: Twitter/@djtek)
According to the FAA, no flights would be allowed in or out of the airports until 10 a.m. at the earliest.
Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier at Midway, has cancelled all of its flights for the day. AirTran, which is undergoing a merger with Southwest, was assessing whether it could get any flights out amid the reduced operations.
Airports in Wisconsin and Iowa also were being impacted by the fire at the radar facility. FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said airspace management duties at the Auror radar center have been transferred to other air traffic facilities.
The facility in Aurora is home to some of the most sophisticated radar equipment in the nation, and is used to track flights that travel across parts of five states – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Controllers at the facility handle millions of flight operations a year, tracking flights, adjusting speed and altitude for planes, and keeping them at safe distances.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said the FAA’s Indianapolis Center was bearing the brunt of the extra workload from the evacuation of the Aurora radar facility.
“They are doing what they can to support. They have one route for Chicago-area arrivals currently in operation, and are considering ways to add a second. They’ve also developed a non-radar departure route for southbound departures out of the Chicago area. Additionally, they are preparing to handle an increased load of East Coast traffic. In short, they’re doing everything they can to assist,” NATCA officials said in an email.
With no flights going in or out of either Chicago airport, the skies above northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and parts of Iowa, Indiana and Michigan were virtually empty, as seen in the radar image below from FlightAware.
Skies above the Chicago area were virtually empty Friday morning, due to a ground stop at O’Hare and Midway airports, because of a fire at an FAA radar facility. (Credit: FlightAware)
This is the second time in four months that an emergency at an FAA radar facility has forced airlines to halt flights at Midway and O’Hare. In May, smoke at the TRACON facility in Elgin halted flights at the two airports for more than three hours. More than 1,000 flights were canceled at O’Hare, and another 120 were canceled at Midway. More than 1,400 other flights were delayed.