B737-800
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Troubleshooting; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Other / Unknown; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Maintenance Action; General Police / Security Involved
Human Factors; Procedure
I was the Captain of flight. Late afternoon I was informed by the crew chief that a bag being loaded in the forward cargo hold had caught fire. At this point I went down to the ramp area to assess the situation. What I found was that a bag; while it was being loaded; had smoke observed coming out of it. The bag loader at that point threw the bag out onto the ramp. There were no visible flames and the amount of smoke was minor. Speaking with the loader and the Supervisor; I would estimate that the bag was in the cargo hold for only a few seconds before it was thrown out on the ramp. The crew chief and the one of the ramp supervisors opened the bag to determine the source. They found six boxes of 'strike anywhere' matches and one pack of burnt 'safety type' matches. Apparently the burnt packet of matches had the cover folded back exposing the matches and they had rubbed on the striker plate of one of the boxes of matches. The packet of 'safety type' matches is what caught fire; and only that packet of matches. The fire extinguished itself and did not cause the other matches to ignite. Some minor damage was observed in the bag where the matches were found. After speaking with a Supervisor; we contacted Maintenance to do an inspection of the cargo area to ensure no damage was done to the aircraft. Maintenance personnel along with a Maintenance Supervisor showed up to conduct the inspection. A logbook entry was made and indicated that while bags were being loaded one of the bags had caught fire. The balancing write up indicated no damage to the aircraft. The passenger was identified and brought forward for additional interviewing in the jet bridge area by both myself and several Company Operation's supervisors. After confirming that all his bags were accounted for; and being informed that TSA wanted to interview the passenger; the passenger left with station personnel. I then reviewed the logbook entries; received concurrence from all supervisors still on scene that they had completed their jobs; and decided it was safe to continue the flight. We departed 22 minutes late. The flight was uneventful.
As a passenger's bag was loaded in a B737-800 baggage compartment a small fire ignited within the bag. Ground crewmembers removed the bag and found a safety match packet had ignited and extinguished next to six unignited strike any where matches. The bag's owner was removed for TSA questioning.