B737-800
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Total 20000
Troubleshooting; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff; Flight Crew Returned To Gate
Aircraft
I was First Officer and Pilot Monitoring during a 120 kt. IAS abort on Runway 7L at PHX. We aborted due to a configuration alert. We began taxi back to gate but no gate was immediately available. While waiting for a gate in the East hold bay the CFR (Crash Fire Rescue) informed us that both left tires had deflated. We suspect they deflated while parked in the hold bay due to heat generated from the abort. We then off loaded the passengers on to buses for transport back to the terminal. While exiting the aircraft I was surprised to discover that the number 1 tire had deflated due to tire failure. In other words; the tire had failed before the fuse plugs released the pressure. It appeared that the number 2 tire had deflated due to the fuse plugs as advertised.This event occurred because of a configuration alert. I heard through a second hand source that the configuration alert occurred because of leading edge flap asymmetry; however I have been unable to confirm this.I recommend that a user-friendly venue be established to close the information loop on mechanical causes like this. I believe that most pilots want to use events like this to learn from. My questions are:1. What caused the configuration light and why did we get it so late in the takeoff roll?2. What maintenance action was taken to fix this?3. Why did the number 1 tire fail and is it common for a tire to fail before the fuse plugs release the pressure?
737 flight crew reported receiving a takeoff configuration warning; resulting in an aborted takeoff at high speed and failure of two tires.