B737-800 flight crew reported communications issues led to confusion and contrary actions taken during a tail pipe fire during taxi out. The flight crew requested airport crash fire rescue equipment and extinguished the fire; then returned to the gate.
Synopsis
B737-800 flight crew reported communications issues led to confusion and contrary actions taken during a tail pipe fire during taxi out. The flight crew requested airport crash fire rescue equipment and extinguished the fire; then returned to the gate.
Narrative
After push back we made a turnout of the ramp to spot. Ground instructed us to follow an aircraft from the right on Mike taxiway. We heard on the radio another flight report that a plane had an engine fire in the left engine. We had no indication in the cockpit of any fire so I wonder which aircraft that might be. The ground controller queried where the plane on fire was at. The other flight stated that the aircraft on fire was at spot 8 or 9. I immediately opened the cockpit window and leaned out and saw flames coming out of the rear of the left engine. I told the First Officer 'we are on fire'. I asked ground control to send the fire trucks to which he replied 'they are already on the way'. The First Officer got the QRC out and we ran the engine fire on the ground checklist. We ran the checklist to where I was supposed to discharge the fire bottles.We were in contact with crash fire rescue equipment at this point and they reported smoke; but no fire in the left engine. I did not discharge the bottle when crash fire rescue equipment reported no fire. We asked crash fire rescue equipment if they felt we could taxi back to the gate. Crash fire rescue equipment said they thought it was ok and said they would follow us back to the gate. We taxied back to the gate using the right engine and deplaned. I don't know when the fire actually started. They only way we knew was another aircraft telling ground we had a fire. After the fire was confirmed out; we tried to contact ZZZ Maintenance on the number two radio and received no response. (More on that later)Upon arriving at the gate; the Gate Agents opened the door and apparently just walked away. I was dealing with Ops and Maintenance and after a few minutes I noticed no one was deplaning. I asked the Flight Attendants what was going on and they stated the gate agent just opened the door and left. I walked up to the gate to find out what was going on. The two agents were at the counter and I asked why weren't the passengers deplaning. Their response was 'we opened the door; so why was everyone not getting off?' I said I thought the gate agents would have made some kind of announcement instructing the passenger what to do after deplaning. Or at the very least say something to the Flight Attendants so they could tell the passengers something. (Stay in the gate area; new gate; new departure time etc.) I did bring this up with the manager that later arrived and she said she would make note of that and review with her agents; 'so they could do better in the future'. I'm not sure who responsibility this really was; but I just thought they would have made some kind of announcement to the passengers after they opened the door. I didn't appreciate the ration of crap I received from the Maintenance Controller once we got to the gate and things calmed down. He admonished me that we need to contact Maintenance in situations like these as soon as possible. When I told him we tried and received no response; he proceeded to blame us for not answering the radio call. He stated; 'if you call on the #2 radio; it might as well be like you didn't call me at all'. It sounded like that was some sort of common knowledge or something. It was news to me since I am based in ZZZ and call maintenance 98% of the time on the #2 radio. I had a lot of things going on at the time and when maintenance didn't answer; I just moved on. I had crash fire rescue equipment on the #1 radio and never entertained switching off their frequency to call a much lower priority item like notifying the Maintenance Controller. I could just do that once we got back to the gate. They did get another aircraft for us and on the way I received a call from Chief Name. He asked if we were ok to continue. I checked with the First Officer and we both agreed we could continue on. 3 of the Flight Attendants got cold feet on the way to the other aircraft. It was now XX:00 PM and they were unable to find any replacements in a reasonable amount of time. The flight was rescheduled for XB:00 AM.
Second reporter narrative
We pushed off gate and received clearance to start engines. Both engine starts were normal. We called for taxi clearance and; after a short delay; due to frequency congestion and ramp traffic; we were cleared to taxi to Runway XR. We were abeam spot X. The Captain initiated the right turn. We were told to hold short for company traffic moving right to left. As that aircraft passed us; one of the crew members radioed ground that the aircraft had a fire in the left engine. Ground was not sure who it was; I responded with our call sign. The Captain opened his window; looked out; and then turned to me and said 'it is on fire' or something to that effect (we had no indications of a fire on our engine gauges). He called for crash fire rescue equipment. I had already picked up the QRC and we began running the Engine Fire on Ground checklist.The Captain pulled the fire handle but elected not to discharge the fire bottle due to the internal nature of the fire; and that it was visually confirmed by crash fire rescue equipment that the fire appeared to be out. The Captain asked if it looked like we were ok to taxi back the gate. Airport rescue and firefighting said yes. I coordinated with OPS for a gate and so we did a left 180 and returned to the gate. After a short delay; for some reason the gate agent opened the door and just went back up the jet bridge without talking to the Captain or myself; the passengers deplaned. Maintenance came on board and we debriefed the event with them. The Captain had already written it up in the log book. I was not planning to file a report. I knew the Captain was filing a report. But the Captain contacted me a couple days later and said the Union recommended we do; so I am. Not sure what caused the fire. I do not have any suggestions on how to prevent the event.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.