Boeing Company Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200; Flight Crew Total 18000; Flight Crew Type 1770
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Human Factors
Upon arriving at the aircraft; I found that maintenance was working in the cockpit and my F/O and I could not get in. We stood on the jetbridge waiting for maintenance to finish. As I was looking out the window of the jetbridge door; I noticed that JET-A was pouring out of the left wing NACA vent. I told my FO to tell the CS [Customer Service] Agents to call the fire department. I ran out the jetbridge door and made my way to the right side of the aircraft and found the fueler sitting in his truck; totally unaware that he was venting fuel onto the ramp. I told him to shut off the fueling immediately. I noticed that the rampers immediately started getting kitty litter to surround the fuel spill. I returned to the jetbridge and called Zone from the jetbridge phone. I told the agent that we needed the Fire Trucks and that we would need to deplane the passengers. The Zone Agent told me that they would take care of it. I found a CS Agent and told them that we needed to deplane the passengers. I did not initiate an aircraft evacuation. As the passengers were deplaning; I had my FO call Ramp on the aircraft radio to tell them that we needed Fire Trucks. They said that they would call. I depowered the aircraft completely.10-15 minutes after the fuel spill; I realized that the Fire Department had still not arrived. I told the CS Agents to call the Fire Department again. They told me that they had already called and that there was nothing more they could do. I called Zone again and told them that the Fire Department had not arrived yet. She said that she would call again. After another 5 minutes; I called Zone a third time. She said that there was nothing more that she could do.I went to the ramp and found the Airport Operations agent who had come to the fuel spill. I asked him if he knew why the Fire Department had not come. He said that he had told them not to come. I asked why he would override my request. He said that the fueler had told him that the fuel spill had been less than 10 gallons. I told him that I observed the fuel pouring from the vent in a 6 inch diameter flow for at least one minute. The spill extended from the left main gear to the left wing tip. I would estimate that it was at least 45 feet by 30 feet. Based upon the time that the fuel was spilling and the rate that single point fueling fills the aircraft; I would estimate that the spill had to be 50-100 gallons. There were no injuries in the incident. All of my Flight Attendants complained of fumes and an overwhelming odor of jet fuel during the deplaning and clean up. I was astonished at the lack of response to my request for Fire Department services. I made three requests to Zone and one to Ramp and was ignored. The Airport Operations agent never came to tell me that he had overridden my request for fire services. Zone never called me to tell me that Fire Services would not come.
An air carrier Captain reported he noticed a fuel spill on the ramp and felt the lack of response from the fire department; airport; and company were troubling.