Narrative:

A dash 8-400 inbound for landing runway xx had declared an emergency due to blown tire on departure. We were aware of the emergency status of the arrival for at least 45 minutes prior to landing; and as such; we advised airport operations and arff of all pertinent information in a timely manner. The arff commander requested and was cleared to position emergency vehicles at taxiways F and D in anticipation of the dash 8-400's arrival. The arff commander also advised that he wanted to go onto the runway after the dash 8-400 landed and follow him down the runway. I responded with; 'roger; I have your request.' ops 2 requested; and was cleared to hold short of runway xx at F. He then told me he planned on closing the runway after the dash 8-400 landed and proceed onto the runway to follow him. I responded; 'roger; we'll plan on that.' the dash 8-400 then landed on runway xx and as he passed taxiway F at approximately 100 knots; ops 2; and one of the fire trucks went onto the runway without a clearance to follow the aircraft. After both vehicles were already on the runway; the arff commander advised me he was on runway xx following the aircraft and I responded; 'roger; but you should probably get a clearance before you do that.' at that; ops 2 came on frequency and said; 'I closed the runway.' while I realize that it is airport operations and not the FAA that has the authority to open or close the runway; I don't believe it is reasonable; safe; prudent; or even legal to close it right after an aircraft has touched down and is still rolling out. It is also worth noting that there was no coordination with ATC on the runway closure prior to the vehicles entering the runway other than ops 2 stating his intentions to do so at least 10 minutes prior to this incident. Ensure that airport ops personnel close runways only after coordinating with the tower; not just declaring it closed and letting us know after the fact; and not declaring the runway closed as an aircraft is rolling out at 100 knots.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller described an emergency event that resulted in an unexpected runway entry by the emergency trucks.

Narrative: A Dash 8-400 inbound for landing Runway XX had declared an emergency due to blown tire on departure. We were aware of the emergency status of the arrival for at least 45 minutes prior to landing; and as such; we advised airport operations and ARFF of all pertinent information in a timely manner. The ARFF Commander requested and was cleared to position emergency vehicles at Taxiways F and D in anticipation of the Dash 8-400's arrival. The ARFF commander also advised that he wanted to go onto the runway after the Dash 8-400 landed and follow him down the runway. I responded with; 'Roger; I have your request.' Ops 2 requested; and was cleared to hold short of Runway XX at F. He then told me he planned on closing the runway after the Dash 8-400 landed and proceed onto the runway to follow him. I responded; 'Roger; we'll plan on that.' The Dash 8-400 then landed on Runway XX and as he passed Taxiway F at approximately 100 knots; Ops 2; and one of the fire trucks went onto the runway without a clearance to follow the aircraft. After both vehicles were already on the runway; the ARFF commander advised me he was on Runway XX following the aircraft and I responded; 'Roger; but you should probably get a clearance before you do that.' At that; Ops 2 came on frequency and said; 'I closed the runway.' While I realize that it is airport operations and not the FAA that has the authority to open or close the runway; I don't believe it is reasonable; safe; prudent; or even legal to close it right after an aircraft has touched down and is still rolling out. It is also worth noting that there was no coordination with ATC on the runway closure prior to the vehicles entering the runway other than Ops 2 stating his intentions to do so at least 10 minutes prior to this incident. Ensure that airport Ops personnel close runways only after coordinating with the Tower; not just declaring it closed and letting us know after the fact; and not declaring the runway closed as an aircraft is rolling out at 100 knots.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.