A fire in the control tower Saturday afternoon caused a brief evacuation the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.
Two airport employees were in the tower when a fire started in a panel box on the tower's third floor, said Mark Starnes, battalion chief with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department.
Starnes said after containing the fire with a dry chemical extinguisher, the two employees in the tower evacuated.
No one was injured.
Because of a lighting strike the night before, the airport was running on backup power from generators at the time of the fire, Starnes said.
Starnes said the fire was mostly extinguished when firefighters arrived.
After containing the fire, the tower's electricity was temporarily shut off for inspections.
The control tower was reopened later that day.
Calls to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport on Saturday afternoon for comment went unanswered.
Original article can be found here: http://www.semissourian.com
CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) - After lightning struck at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport last night, workers say a tower was operating on about third of the power needed.
According to Battalion Chief Mark Starnes, as of 4 p.m. the tower was running on generator power.
When the tower opened up this morning on Saturday, May 20 it overheated an electrical boxes causing a small fire on the fourth floor.
Employees attempted to put fire out using a fire extinguisher and called the local fire department.
The fire was already out when crews arrived but firefighters helped with ventilation to get smoke out of tower and searched to make sure the area was cleared of flames.
They shut down the power to the tower and the terminal running on generator power.
Ameren is in route to check the area.
Air traffic is safe to land at the airport but a center in Memphis is handling air traffic for the time being.
Original article can be found here: http://www.kfvs12.com
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