Narrative:

We experienced a possible oven fire with dense black smoke. Another flight attendant and I were the firefighters. We had the halon extinguisher at the ready. Along with the pbe; we first smelled an acrid smell in the mid galley area. I started to investigate it further and we called the cockpit to inform them. They said to keep them posted. At first we didn't see smoke; but the distinct smell was present. Called the cockpit again and asked about the further use of the oven and instructions on the circuit breakers and if we should start pulling them. I went back to the ovens and opened them and there was no visible residue or food on any of the racks. The top racks in both ovens we loaded properly with the breakfast entrees on the top level. There was nothing that was being trapped or food residue that was being 'burned off' if you will. Literally a minute or so after we hung up with the cockpit the left hand mid galley oven started to release a plume of black smoke. It was coming out of the seals around the oven door and appeared to be coming from the side of it (mesh type vent in between the two ovens) as well. The other flight attendant grabbed the halon; I grabbed the pbe and had them at the ready. The other flight attendant called the cockpit and relayed the possible serious situation with heavy smoke coming from the oven. The pilots then gave me instructions to pull all the circuit breakers and cut the power to that side of galley which I did. [I also pulled the] power to the chillers on the opposite side. It happened all so very quickly that we did not have time to don the pbe before the decision was made to declare an emergency landing and land. We kept the oven door closed to minimize the smoke coming into the cabin and we opened the vents in the galley and jumpseat area. I got up again and checked for hotspots on the side of the galley walls closet area at the rear of the oven as well as the compartment above the closet area. I did not feel any heat that wasn't 'normal'. The cockpit then called and gave us instructions and advisory; 'we will land and if needed will evacuate on the tarmac.' the other flight attendant and I decided to keep the equipment with us for landing. The pbe behind my back and the halon extinguisher in-between us. We landed safely. The cockpit called me at door two left and asked us what the status of the oven was. I informed him of the following; 'the smoke seems to have stopped coming out. There's a small amount of residual still in the galley but it seems to have stopped coming out.' he then said; 'ok we will then taxi into the gate.' I said; 'okay; thank you' and hung up.once we landed he called the lead and asked her to make an announcement to keep the passengers in their seats while the firefighters entered the aircraft and checked the oven and galley area. The firefighters along with the csr said they could smell it once the aircraft cabin door was opened. The firefighters checked out the galley and oven and like us couldn't see anything that was obvious. They checked with a heat sensor and that checked out ok. They turned it over to our mechanics. The mechanics came in and asked various questions. We relayed the same information to them -once we turned on the ovens approximately 7-10 minutes later the left hand oven started to release black smoke. We told them how we could smell an acrid type smell heavy black smoke appeared and that passengers also could smell it. They proceeded to take the oven rack out of the casing and there was a patch of black residue on the ceiling top part of the oven casing that was visible and when the mechanic touched it he said; 'this looks like charcoal.' the fan was compromised and appeared to be setting itself on fire. We gave them their space to work and began the debriefing with the lead. [We then] called inflight supervisor and crew scheduling.we took inventory of how we were all feeling and what we were feeling. The other flight attendant and I decide that as a precaution we should probably get checked out since we inhaled quite a bit of the dense black smoke. Our anxiety level was high and felt that we would not be in the right frame of mind to continue working a flight that day unless the doctor who checked us out said it would be ok. The purser did come back to the mid galley to check the situation during the unfolding event and confirmed yes there was an acrid smell and indeed we needed to confer with the cockpit. We all worked well together and as a crew naturally followed our emergency procedures (the very ones we practice at recurrent every year).

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 mid-galley oven fan failed causing a great deal of black smoke in the cabin; but not knowing the cause inflight an emergency was declared and the flight diverted.

Narrative: We experienced a possible oven fire with dense black smoke. Another Flight Attendant and I were the firefighters. We had the Halon extinguisher at the ready. Along with the PBE; we first smelled an acrid smell in the mid galley area. I started to investigate it further and we called the cockpit to inform them. They said to keep them posted. At first we didn't see smoke; but the distinct smell was present. Called the cockpit again and asked about the further use of the oven and instructions on the circuit breakers and if we should start pulling them. I went back to the ovens and opened them and there was no visible residue or food on any of the racks. The top racks in both ovens we loaded properly with the breakfast entrees on the top level. There was nothing that was being trapped or food residue that was being 'burned off' if you will. Literally a minute or so after we hung up with the cockpit the left hand mid galley oven started to release a plume of black smoke. It was coming out of the seals around the oven door and appeared to be coming from the side of it (mesh type vent in between the two ovens) as well. The other Flight Attendant grabbed the Halon; I grabbed the PBE and had them at the ready. The other Flight Attendant called the cockpit and relayed the possible serious situation with heavy smoke coming from the oven. The pilots then gave me instructions to pull all the circuit breakers and cut the power to that side of galley which I did. [I also pulled the] power to the chillers on the opposite side. It happened all so very quickly that we did not have time to don the PBE before the decision was made to declare an emergency landing and land. We kept the oven door closed to minimize the smoke coming into the cabin and we opened the vents in the galley and jumpseat area. I got up again and checked for hotspots on the side of the galley walls closet area at the rear of the oven as well as the compartment above the closet area. I did not feel any heat that wasn't 'normal'. The cockpit then called and gave us instructions and advisory; 'We will land and if needed will evacuate on the TARMAC.' The other Flight Attendant and I decided to keep the equipment with us for landing. The PBE behind my back and the Halon extinguisher in-between us. We landed safely. The cockpit called me at door two left and asked us what the status of the oven was. I informed him of the following; 'The smoke seems to have stopped coming out. There's a small amount of residual still in the galley but it seems to have stopped coming out.' He then said; 'Ok we will then taxi into the gate.' I said; 'Okay; thank you' and hung up.Once we landed he called the Lead and asked her to make an announcement to keep the passengers in their seats while the firefighters entered the aircraft and checked the oven and galley area. The firefighters along with the CSR said they could smell it once the aircraft cabin door was opened. The firefighters checked out the galley and oven and like us couldn't see anything that was obvious. They checked with a heat sensor and that checked out ok. They turned it over to our mechanics. The mechanics came in and asked various questions. We relayed the same information to them -once we turned on the ovens approximately 7-10 minutes later the left hand oven started to release black smoke. We told them how we could smell an acrid type smell heavy black smoke appeared and that passengers also could smell it. They proceeded to take the oven rack out of the casing and there was a patch of black residue on the ceiling top part of the oven casing that was visible and when the Mechanic touched it he said; 'This looks like charcoal.' The fan was compromised and appeared to be setting itself on fire. We gave them their space to work and began the debriefing with the Lead. [We then] called Inflight Supervisor and crew scheduling.We took inventory of how we were all feeling and what we were feeling. The other Flight Attendant and I decide that as a precaution we should probably get checked out since we inhaled quite a bit of the dense black smoke. Our anxiety level was high and felt that we would not be in the right frame of mind to continue working a flight that day unless the doctor who checked us out said it would be ok. The Purser did come back to the mid galley to check the situation during the unfolding event and confirmed yes there was an acrid smell and indeed we needed to confer with the cockpit. We all worked well together and as a crew naturally followed our emergency procedures (the very ones we practice at recurrent every year).

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.