FORT WORTH — Two people were killed Sunday afternoon when the small airplane they were on crashed near Hicks Airfield in Fort Worth, igniting a massive blaze that sent a plume of thick black smoke into the air, authorities said.
Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman Craig Trojacek said a multiagency team of first responders converged on the scene in the 12700 block of North Saginaw Boulevard around 1:36 p.m. following the crash.
The King Air Twin Engine aircraft had departed Alliance Airport, according to a news release from the Fort Worth Fire Department Sunday night.
At least 10 tractor-trailers in the area were damaged during the crash when the vehicles caught fire. A grass fire also started during the incident. Authorities said firefighters brought the blaze under control in 35 minutes.
Trojacek said the twin-engine jet crashed in the back of a parking lot of a business that stores 18-wheelers, trailers, and campers.
“There are a lot of people at home spending family time on a Sunday,” he said. “There’s going to be some families their lives are changed forever, and we just want everybody to know that our hearts and prayers go out to them.”
The release from the fire department said the agency had 60 personnel at the scene along with 10 firetrucks that were dispatched to the scene along with 14 support vehicles and three ambulances.
The identities of the victims were not immediately disclosed, and the cause of the crash is under investigation, authorities said.
Firefighters and Tarrant County sheriff’s deputies surrounded the industrial property where the plane went down, carrying hoses along a driveway to the back of the business, where firefighters responded to the crash scene.
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said it had workers at the scene but that they were responding in a supporting role.
It was sunny, breezy and dry at the time of the accident, but officials have not said publicly if they know what led to the crash.
The sheriff’s office told KXAS-TV (NBC5) that crews were forced to close Tinsley Road and Business U.S. 287, as well as Cattle Bend at Business U.S. 287 while first responders battled the blaze.
Gregory Delano was at Fat Billiards pool hall down the street from the crash scene when he heard about the plane crash.
Delano, 20, said he ran out of the building with another person and over to the scene, where he saw black smoke. He said he walked around and could not see the plane.
“It was a giant ball of fire,” Delano said. He said he could not see or hear anybody.
Delano said he ran to the scene with the intention of trying to help anyone who might be hurt. He said he was among the first few people on the scene before first responders arrived.
And he did help someone.
Delano said he saw a person heading toward the crash with a fire extinguisher in hand and he grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him behind a truck. Within 30 seconds, the fuel locks exploded, he said.
“So when you have that much fire with fuel, it releases natural gas and it starts hissing, trying to get that pressure to escape,” Delano said. “I heard it hissing.”
Delano, who said he took the firefighter entrance exam, knew that, with the amount of fuel at the scene, the blaze could not be extinguished with a 20-pound extinguisher.
The Federal Aviation Administration was notified about the crash and would be the lead investigative agency, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office. The FAA, citing the ongoing federal government shutdown, said in an automated response to The Dallas Morning News that it would not be responding to routine media inquiries.
Video from social media showed a thick black plume of smoke coming from the crash scene.
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