A terminal at one of Australia’s busiest airports was evacuated this morning after “multiple” fire alarms went off due to a suspected technical issue.
The alarms at Perth Airport’s Terminal 1 were set off at about 5am on Thursday, leading to an evacuation of the terminal.
Some commuters waited close to an hour while emergency services investigated the issue, ultimately finding there was “no smoke or fire” but instead a system glitch.
“For passengers who had already gone through the screening process, they were evacuated to the air site and held out on the apron,” an airport spokesperson said.
“They had to wait 20-30 minutes.
“For everyone else land side, they were evacuated to the forecourt in front of the terminal and had to wait close to an hour.”
Minor flight delays are expected throughout the morning of 5-10 minutes while airlines communicate with carriers to evaluate the extent of the disruption.
This marks the terminal’s second evacuation in a week after a “legitimate fire alarm” went off last Thursday.
“We had an actual fire alarm and an evacuation last week where there was a fire in the terminal at one of the retailers,” the spokesperson said.
“We don’t know yet if that incident was related to today’s.”
Perth Airport is the fourth busiest in the country, following Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
