Fire Causes Flight Delays In Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – A small fire in a utility closet knocked out power and caused flight delays at Alabama’s busiest airport.

Spokeswoman Toni Herrera-Bast says the blaze occurred before dawn Friday at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham.

The fire was inside the airport’s secured area, but the spokeswoman says it didn’t affect security screening or other operations by the Transportation Security Administration.

Power went out on one side of the terminal, and Herrera-Bast says a total of nine flights operated by Delta and American Airlines were delayed because of problems processing passengers during the outage.

No one was hurt and the power was back on by mid-morning. Herrera-Bast says officials suspect an electrical problem caused the fire, but the exact cause hasn’t been determined.

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