Flight Crew Last 90 Days 45; Flight Crew Total 12000; Flight Crew Type 45
Other / Unknown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Diverted
Aircraft
Prior to coast out at FL370 I received a call from the Lead Flight Attendant. She advised that they had a smoky smell in the aft galley. She stated she thought a plastic lid was left in a galley oven. She would keep us advised. Approximately 5 minutes later she called the cockpit and asked to pull the galley oven circuit breakers so they could spray the halon. The Captain asked if there were flames and was told yes. The Relief Pilot was woken and dispatched to the galley. Diversion was planned. Relief Pilot reported dense smoke and the use of 2 halon bottles to suppress the fire. Diversion was executed and safe landing made. Firefighters entered aircraft and determined fire to be extinguished and confined to inside oven. No evacuation performed.
We received notice from the Purser that we had smoke in the rear galley. This situation escalated into a full blown oven fire which necessitated use of the PBA and halon fire extinguisher. A flight attendant put out the fire; but smoke was severe and we had one passenger and two crewmembers suffering from smoke inhalation. We decided to divert to the nearest suitable airport. We received clearance [for our divert]. All pertinent checklists were completed prior to landing and we landed the aircraft 5;800 LBS overweight. We decided it was more important to make a timely landing than waste time dumping fuel. We kept the speed up during descent exceeding 250 KTS below 10;000 FT and received permission from ATC to do so. I would have exercised my Captain's emergency authority to do so anyway. We requested emergency personnel to escort the plane to the gate area and did not need to perform an evacuation. The flight attendants did a very good job of fighting the fire. The two first officers also performed admirably during this incident.
B777 flight crew is informed by the Purser of an oven fire in the aft galley. A great deal of smoke is generated and two halon fire bottles are used to extinguish the flames. Flight diverts to the nearest suitable airport.