B737 flight crew reported AFT CARGO FIRE WARNING and Fire Bell during cruise. Crew returned to departure airport.
Synopsis
B737 flight crew reported AFT CARGO FIRE WARNING and Fire Bell during cruise. Crew returned to departure airport.
Narrative
Shortly after departure from ZZZ and upon reaching a cruising altitude of FL350; the aft cargo fire warning bell and associated warning light illuminated. The bell was silenced; and after completing the initial assessment and identifying the malfunction; the warning light extinguished by itself. Given the nature of the indication; we made the decision to return to ZZZ and request priority handling.During the return; the aft cargo fire warning activated again for a second time. I instructed the First Officer to execute the appropriate Quick Reference Checklist (QRC) and refer to the Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) for the cargo fire procedure. I also established contact with the Dispatch via Acars; Flight Manager via interphone for a briefing and made a public address (PA) to inform the passengers.At the time; the aircraft was approximately 14;000 pounds over maximum landing weight. After reviewing the overweight landing procedures outlined in the Flight Manual; we elected to perform an overweight landing on Runway XXR.While on approach; the cargo fire warning triggered for a third time. I contacted the airport fire chief and advised that we would stop on the runway after landing to allow emergency personnel to conduct a visual inspection for any signs of fire or smoke. Upon landing; the fire department confirmed there was no evidence of fire or smoke. We then vacated the runway and taxied to the gate without further incident. Passengers deplaned normally.A full debriefing of the event was conducted following arrival.I would like to commend First Officer for their exceptional performance and professionalism throughout the event. Their support and execution of duties were exemplary.
Second reporter narrative
We had just left ZZZ and arrived at flight level 350 when we heard the fire bell and saw the aft cargo fire light had illuminated. We immediately started for the QRC. As we started and pulled out the checklist the warning extinguished. We decided to still request priority handling and land as soon as possible. The captain made the decision to return to ZZZ; which I completely agreed with; given the nature of the situation. As we started to return and get set up the fire light reilluminated and the captain commanded the QRC again and I ran through and completed the checklist and then the following QRH. The captain gave the briefing and briefed the passengers as well as gave the applicable information to ATC. We also notified dispatch. We discussed how we would be overweight and ran through the risks and the decisions surrounding that as well as ran the performance numbers using the tables for our current weight. We decided on landing runway XXR for a longer runway that had a usable approach.As we were on short final the light illuminated again. This time after the bottle had already been discharged. We decided to have stop on the runway and roll fire trucks on the runway before continuing to make sure we were not currently on fire. The fire department inspected and informed us that they saw no indications of an active fire. We returned to gate and deplaned the passengers via the jet bridge.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.