The third exercise of the current fiscal year began at 10am at Phuket International Airport. Following standard protocol, a real fire was ignited in the designated fire pit adjacent to runway 27, and emergency teams were mobilised to respond to the simulated threat.
Amidst roaring flames and billowing black smoke, firefighters approached the blaze and successfully extinguished it. Medical teams also joined the drill, providing assistance and care to simulated "victims." The exercise was deemed a success.
"Phuket International Airport conducts real-life fire drills four times a year to maintain the proficiency of our firefighters and ensure they are prepared to respond to actual incidents," stated the airport in a Facebook post after the drill.
Last year’s fire drill on May 31 was followed a few weeks later by an exercise at the airport’s office building involving an emergency evacuation.
The management team of the Airports of Thailand operating Phuket International Airport (AoT Phuket) did not provide details on whether an "office fire exercise" would follow this year’s "runway fire drill" as well.
Thai Smile emergency landing on Feb 23
The scenario of the regular "runway fire drills" – an aircraft on fire on the runway – is what emergency personnel may encounter in case of a hard landing, such as the one that took place on Feb 22.
On that day a Thai Smile Airbus A320 suffered an undisclosed engine problem and made an emergency hard landing at Phuket International Airport with a tailstrike on the runway, confirmed the report by Phuket Info Center, which operates under the Phuket office of the Ministry of Interior.
The pilots managed to safely bring the plane to a halt and all passengers disembarked without injuries. The runway was closed for an hours while repairs were made. The aircraft was handed over to technicians for checks and repairs as well.
AOT Phuket did not issue any public statement regarding the incident, though the fire drill on Feb 23 (literally the following day) was reported in due manner. Offical agencies such as the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) have not reported anything about the investigation that should have been launched after the incident.