EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Flight Crew FLC complied w / Automation / Advisory; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; General Maintenance Action
Environment - Non Weather Related; Aircraft; Company Policy
While sitting in the penalty box after arrival; waiting for a gate for approx 45 minutes; we started to smell an odor that seemed like deice fluid. It then started to smell like a burning electrical smell. We called the Flight Attendant to walk back and check things out to see if the intensity of the smell changed as she walked aft. About the time she called back; confirming the smell; we received an APU fire indication on the EICAS. As we started the APU FIRE QRH procedure; the APU shut itself down and the fire seemed extinguished. We called Ground Control and had them send a truck to verify it was out prior to heading to the gate area. They sent what seemed like 15 trucks. After it was confirmed out; we had to fight with Operations and Dispatch to get priority handling to the gate. I was repeatedly declined. I was basically told that unless I was on fire currently; I had to wait like everybody else. While this was technically safe; the passengers DID NOT understand or care for that action. They kept looking at those 15 fire trucks and starting to wonder what was going on. Finally; 30 minutes later; we rolled into a gate. The Fire Department inspected the back wall of the lavatory and cargo bin and found no more indications of a fire. I find it kind of ridiculous that we had that kind of a situation and they wouldn't let us into an open gate. When I asked about a gate in sight being open; I was told that eventually an international arrival would need it and I was declined. However; the conditions also didn't warrant an evacuation onto an icy taxiway when the fire was out.
APU fire indication [was] presented [while] in the penalty box waiting for a gate. Preceding this for about one minute were strong fumes that smelled like deice and electrical fire simultaneously. We began the QRH and the system shut itself down; before we got to the shutdown portion of the checklist the message was no longer presented. Fire personnel were summoned 'just in case' and gave us a clean bill. They stuck around until we taxied in and inspected the aircraft. Maintenance notified. Of note: Operations would not give us any of the open gates they had to deplane our passengers. We had a bunch of nervous people and they could have been significantly more helpful. I would not be surprised if [our company] got some phone calls about this. We sat for about 45 minutes with fire trucks everywhere with no gate available; though there were several typically used for mainline available within sight.
An EMB145 APU Fire Warning alerted; then it auto shut down as they awaited a gate so the crew called the airport Fire Department who saw no fire but the aircraft continued waiting over 30 minutes for a gate.