Narrative:

Cause of smoke is unknown to me at this time. I was the pilot monitoring [when] the flight attendant called up to the front and noted that she saw a smoke/ haze in the back of the cabin. She later indicated to us that several of the passengers had noticed the smoke and had also notified her. I asked her to come to the front of the aircraft and call me when she had done so. My first officer utilized his phone to take a picture through the peephole so we could see what was occurring. We noted the smoke in the rear of the cabin. I began to smell the acrid odor in the flight deck. At that point I commanded masks on and began QRH procedures. I told them that [we intended to divert to a nearby airport]. I spoke with the flight attendant again and told her to find the source possibly in the walls or ceiling. I did have several calls between myself and the flight attendant in the descent. The first officer got established on a visual approach. I elected to have him continue the pilot flying role so I could continue to monitor the emergency. Once we landed I brought the aircraft to a complete stop on the runway. I immediately called the flight attendant and inquired if there was still smoke. The flight attendant noted that she could still smell the smoke and I was concerned that we still had an active fire onboard. At that point I told the flight attendant we were going to be evacuating on the runway. I made an announcement to the passengers to evacuate out the left and right side of the aircraft and to go to the nose of the aircraft. I completed the emergency evacuation QRH and noted that the first officer was unable to egress out of the flight deck door. I decided that we needed someone on the ground to assist the evacuation at this point. I egressed through the captain dv window and helped several of the passengers egress through the main cabin door as that was where the majority of the passengers were. Once we were completely egressed I began coordinating.since cause of smoke is unknown at this time I cannot state; however I have a few lessons I would like to pass on.1. After the cabin O2 masks were deployed the mask door above the entrance caused difficulty in opening the flight deck door. This was unexpected and slowed egress.2. Locating the lead or incident commander is vital.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145 flight crew reported diverting to an alternate airport and evacuating on the runway after experiencing smoke in the cabin enroute.

Narrative: Cause of smoke is unknown to me at this time. I was the pilot monitoring [when] the flight attendant called up to the front and noted that she saw a smoke/ haze in the back of the cabin. She later indicated to us that several of the passengers had noticed the smoke and had also notified her. I asked her to come to the front of the aircraft and call me when she had done so. My FO utilized his phone to take a picture through the peephole so we could see what was occurring. We noted the smoke in the rear of the cabin. I began to smell the acrid odor in the flight deck. At that point I commanded masks on and began QRH procedures. I told them that [we intended to divert to a nearby airport]. I spoke with the FA again and told her to find the source possibly in the walls or ceiling. I did have several calls between myself and the FA in the descent. The FO got established on a visual approach. I elected to have him continue the pilot flying role so I could continue to monitor the emergency. Once we landed I brought the aircraft to a complete stop on the runway. I immediately called the FA and inquired if there was still smoke. The FA noted that she could still smell the smoke and I was concerned that we still had an active fire onboard. At that point I told the FA we were going to be evacuating on the runway. I made an announcement to the passengers to evacuate out the left and right side of the aircraft and to go to the nose of the aircraft. I completed the emergency evacuation QRH and noted that the FO was unable to egress out of the flight deck door. I decided that we needed someone on the ground to assist the evacuation at this point. I egressed through the Captain DV window and helped several of the passengers egress through the main cabin door as that was where the majority of the passengers were. Once we were completely egressed I began coordinating.Since cause of smoke is unknown at this time I cannot state; however I have a few lessons I would like to pass on.1. After the cabin O2 masks were deployed the mask door above the entrance caused difficulty in opening the flight deck door. This was unexpected and slowed egress.2. Locating the lead or incident commander is vital.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.