Learjet 55
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 56; Flight Crew Total 3740; Flight Crew Type 360
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor; Ground Excursion Runway
Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff
Aircraft
During takeoff roll at approximately 90 knots; we heard a bang and felt vibration. I looked out my left side window and saw chunks of rubber flying all over the place. I immediately aborted the takeoff and told the First Officer we blew a tire. I was rolling (on one tire still I assumed) off the right side of Runway 21 when I could tell by loss of forward movement; we lost both tires. I stopped; shut down the engines and told the copilot to run the checklist and check me. I jumped out of my seat right away and when I opened the door to see if I was correct and couldn't move I saw the left landing gear was on fire. I told the passengers to evacuate due to 'a small fire' and I immediately got out the rear fire extinguisher which I applied to the fire and the fire went out. Not more than a few seconds later; it started to smoke again and I was afraid it may relight so I went back into the airplane to grab the second fire extinguisher under the copilot's seat. I applied that one to the smoking landing gear and told the copilot to call Tower and get the fire trucks coming just in case it started back up again as I had nothing else left to fight it with. The fire remained out; the fire trucks showed up and once it had cooled sufficiently in their professional opinion; we retrieved our bags and things from the airplane.
Learjet 55 Captain reported leaving runway during rejected takeoff for tire failure. Flight crew discovered fire in gear area and used portable extinguishers to fight it prior to calling for assistance.