A security officer (left) at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston gives directions to a passenger at the facility yesterday. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Worried passengers and scurrying emergency personnel dotted the landscape at the Norman Manley International Airport for almost two hours yesterday morning following a fire scare.

The drama started about 11 yesterday morning while work was being done on a section of the roof of the terminal building.

According to the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ), the requisite permit had been issued for the 'hot work', but a minor incident occurred, which resulted in smoke entering the ventilation system and travelling through the main terminal.

For scores of people in the check-in area, and many others in the departure lounge, it was a scary experience as the fire alarm sounded and smoke filled the air.

"It was chaos!" said a Jamaican who was in the departure lounge awaiting a flight to Montego Bay, St James.

"Pandemonium! That's what it was. There was no order anywhere," said Ruth, a Trinidadian who was destined to leave the island early yesterday afternoon.

Other passengers who were in the terminal expressed their concern, while those who arrived at the airport to check in, after the police blocked some roads and fire personnel were busy combing through the building, were confused.

"I don't know what is happening but I'm here to catch my flight and they are telling me I can't go to the check-in area," one departing Jamaican told The Gleaner.

But, even as some passengers complained, others gave high marks to the airport's emergency response team.

"The firefighters and ambulance personnel were quick on the scene and seemed professional," one American visitor told The Gleaner.

Mark Williams, vice-president of commercial and marketing operations at the Airports Authority, was not surprised by the positive and negative assessments of the passengers.

Kudos

"Once you see smoke and a fire alarm goes off, there is bound to be some confusion, but kudos to our emergency-response team, which soon had the situation under control," Williams said.

He argued that once the smoke was detected, the matter was treated under the Airports Authority's emergency-response system, with the area cordoned off by its emergency services personnel (police fire, medical).

No injury was reported, and before one o'clock in the afternoon, people were allowed to re-enter the terminal, with operations back to normal shortly afterwards.

One arriving American Airlines flight was delayed, while two flights, a Caribbean Airlines and an American Airlines, had their departure times set back because of the incident, which had little or no impact on the arrival area.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com