MIAMI --
A massive fire broke out Wednesday night in a fuel storage area of Miami International Airport, causing dozens of flight cancellations Thursday morning.
The fire broke out at about 11 p.m. in the airport's fuel farm area at the airport's perimeter.
People who were nearby at the time said they heard an explosion and then saw flames erupt. Large plumes of smoke billowed into the night sky. The smoke could be seen as far away as Coral Gables and Brickell Avenue.
About 50 firefighters battled the flames, extinguishing them by about 1:20 a.m.
"Firefighters were working an area with hundreds of thousands of gallons on all sides of them, trying to get foam on there to prevent flames from coming up," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Eric Baum.
The fire was not near any runways or terminals, and no injuries were reported.
"The plan today did work," Baum said. "This was a very significant fire, but we were able to prevent that fire from spreading out of the immediate area of the tank farm, and that's why the airport was designed that way, to keep that isolated, away from passengers."
The airport's fuel tanks and pumps were affected, which had an impact on flight traffic at the airport.
"It's going to have an impact on the out-time performance of the aircraft. We are going to assess the situation to see how many of those pumps we can reopen. We have a total of six pumps, and they are all shut down right now," said Airport Director Jose Abreu.
MIA spokesman Greg Chin said that as of about 8 a.m., 22 outbound American Airlines flights had been canceled due to the fuel situation, and 14 inbound American Airlines flights had been canceled.
Chin said the damage prevents workers from fueling planes through an underground system. Officials plan to use tanker trucks to get fuel to the planes, but it takes twice as long as the underground system, Chin said.
Many planes are making stops at other airports so they do not have to fuel up at MIA.
Passengers are urged to check their flight status.
for travel information.
The Perimeter Road entrance to the airport was closed, but it has since reopened.
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