Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Confusion
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Equipment / Tooling
We were tasked to fly flight to ZZZ.We showed to the aircraft we all were doing our safety checks. In doing so our hydraulic system # 3 read 40% on the quantity which was below the limitations for the system. I called Dispatch and asked to speak with Maintenance Control. I informed the Maintenance Controller of the problem and told him that the outside temperature was -23 degrees. He had us trouble shoot the system with no positive result. I wrote up system #3 for low fluid quantity and waited for contract maintenance to show up. In the mean time we had the Operations (OPS) frequency up and was listening. I have been flying for 15 years now and what I heard on the OPS Freq. what so unsafe.  Aircraft X taxied out to the de-ice pad. The Captain of flight; yelled over the frequency; 'HEY; THE TOP OF THE DE-ICE TRUCK IS ON FIRE'!!!I too also witnessed the truck catching fire. The whole top of the truck what engulfed in flames from the burner. After hearing what the Captain of Aircraft X said; the people operating the de-ice truck shut it off. The Captain then asked over the frequency to the de-ice crew; 'is that normal?' The response from the one of the people from the de-ice truck was; 'Technically no'I found this a blatant disregard for SAFETY. The Captain of Aircraft X then informed them that he did not want that truck next to his aircraft. I immediately told them over the frequency that; 'Aircraft Y will not be de-iced by the truck that just caught on fire. The Aircraft X flight returned to the gate. In the mean time I was in concert by phone and via ACARS to our Dispatch Supervisors and our Dispatcher. I informed them all what was happening with de-ice truck and the unsafe operations we witnessed. I also told them that in the interest of safety I would not allow our aircraft to be de-iced by that truck in question. Everyone agreed that it was unsafe and not to use the truck.  So after some time of trying to get a hold of someone of the OPS frequency I requested to have the Ramp Supervisor to come to our aircraft. The Ramp Supervisor; came on the flight deck. I asked her if this was normal operations for the de-ice truck to catch fire? What I heard next appalled me. Her reply was 'No it was not a normal operation' I then asked her since you just said that it was not normal and not safe why did you knowing continue to try and de-ice aircraft? Her reply was; 'it was not safe and she was sorry'At that point the operation of safety was not paramount nor was it was considered by all of the people involved with the de-icing of aircraft. I informed her that we will not use that truck and if you could get the other de-ice truck running we would use it. She left the flight deck and we did not hear anything for some time. While we were waiting I called my Assistant Chief Pilot and informed him via a voice mail what had transpired and how unsafe the ramp was conducting operations. While we were waiting; the Assistant Chief Pilot called me and I told him what was going on. He said you are doing the right thing by not having that truck de-ice our jet. He also informed me that he informed Aircraft Y's Safety Department of incident. Meanwhile after what had transpired the ZZZ operations continued to de-ice Express Jet and Delta Express with the same truck that caught fire.I saw the Captain of Aircraft X walking across the ramp so I approached him and introduced myself. I told him that I would be filling an ASAP; and irregular reports with my company. He also said he would do the same. Captain also informed me that the truck caught fire 3 more times bringing it to a total of 5 times it caught fire. At this point I had no confidence in anyone from the ZZZ operations to conduct a safe operation. Finally after close to 4 hours the operations informed me that they were going to get the FBO de-ice truck to deice us and that it would be supervised by their certified employee.  Before we loaded the passenger on the aircraft my passengers my flight attendants and I went inside. After we went back through TSA security we went to the gate to get let back out to the jet. As I was approaching the counter I heard two passengers on their phones saying the reason why they were so late was because the Captain and the Dispatcher were having a dispute on the deicing procedures. I could not believe what I was hearing. The gate was lying to the passenger about our situation. As we approached the gate the agent addressed me with an unprofessional attitude by asking me what the heck is going on here. I replied; would you like to discuss this in front of the passengers here or we could step outside. We went outside and I informed him of my grave concerns of the unsafe operations that the station were conducting. I replied; 'Would you like me to finish what I have to say?' His reply was 'No' and walked away. My flight attendant witnessed this unprofessional demeanor. We returned to the jet and waited for the FBO deice truck. Once we were informed that the de-ice truck was available we instructed OPS to board the passengers.After the passengers were all boarded on the jet I went into the cabin and picked up the PA and apologized for the lengthy delay today. I also thought it was important to inform the passenger the REAL reason why we were delayed today and informed them of the de-ice truck catching fire and that we take safety very serious and that I would not let them de-ice our jet and put everyone's lives in danger. We taxied to the de-ice pad and were de-iced with type I and had a tactile check done and depart without incident. In addition to the unsafe operations we dealt with today the Final Flight Attendant Report indicated that the reason why we were delayed was due to field conditions at origination. This was not the truth at all. In closing I would like to say I appreciated the professionalism and CRM from my crew First Officer and all of the outside sources from Dispatch; and the Assistant Chief Pilots. This CRM situation we had to deal with broke the bad link in the chain and stood our ground in the interest of safety because it was the right thing to do. I hope that this report will help make just and swift changes to the unsafe operation in ZZZ. FAA should audit the ZZZ station of their de-icing procedures the whole station would be retrained in the safe operation of de-icing procedures.
CRJ-200 Captain reported that while waiting for de-ice service he noticed a fire on the roof of the de-ice truck in the area of the truck's heater.