Slides used to evacuate 50 people from plane after engine fire at Vancouver airport

A photo taken from inside Vancouver International Airport on July 12, 2025, shows an emergency slide set up after an engine fire on a WestJet aircraft. (Submitted)

Slides were used to evacuate dozens of passengers from a WestJet plane at Vancouver International Airport Saturday night, according to the airline.

The flight, which departed Tampa International Airport, arrived at the gate at YVR around 11 p.m. when a “small tailpipe fire” broke out in one of the engines, a statement from WestJet said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, crew elected to use the slides to quickly evacuate approximately 50 guests remaining on the aircraft. No injuries have been reported, and the aircraft has been removed from service for maintenance,” a spokesperson for the airline wrote.

The airport’s fire rescue crews were called in but were not needed because the “the aircraft’s onboard systems extinguished the small fire,” according to a statement from a YVR spokesperson, which added that the incident did not impact airport operations or flight schedules.

The Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team of investigators who will “gather information and assess the occurrence,” the federal agency said in a statement.