Fire causes Chicago flight delays

A travel nightmare that started this morning in Chicago is having a ripple effect across the U.S. and at Toronto’s Pearson Airport. Thousands of flights were delayed after a fire shut down a major air traffic control centre.

A fire at an FAA radar centre just outside of Chicago halted all flights in and out of one of the countries busiest hubs. The facility directs air traffic over a large swath of the Midwest.

At least 2,000 flights were cancelled in Chicago alone. And it had a ripple effect across the U.S. and into Canada.

Planes were left sitting on the tarmac, grounded at LaGuardia in New York, in Madison, Wisconsin and at Pearson in Toronto.

According to police, a man trying to commit suicide set the fire. The man survived and has been treated at a hospital for self inflicted wounds. One other man was treated for smoke inhalation.

Employees were evacuated from the building and eventually sent home.

Chief Greg Thomas, Aurora Police: “A 36 year-old male who was a contract employee was located in the basement, suffering from self inflicted stab wounds. At this time, we believe the injured man set the fire and he used some type of accelerant. Currently, no criminal charges have been filed as the investigation continues. There have been no firearms or explosives recovered from the scene, we have not yet established any kind of definite motive.”

The Indianapolis control centre is taking over some traffic and a reduced number of flights are going in and out of Chicago again.