Narrative:

Early afternoon; aircraft was taxing from the deicing pad to the runway. I was seated in forward jump-seat and aft flight attendant was standing in the forward galley when the fire alarm in the forward lavatory was activated. I stowed the jump-seat and the aft flight attendant opened the lavatory door to assess the fire alarm. Once the lavatory door was opened I sensed a burnt smell and saw smoke rising towards the ceiling of the aircraft. I contacted the flight deck. I notified them about the activated smoke alarm and possible fire. At that point I was asked if I saw smoke to which I replied 'yes;' I was not asked more details about cabin conditions. I called again and mentioned the need to evacuate passengers from the aircraft in case conditions worsen and was told to do an expedited deplaning. I got on the PA and stated 'remain calm; we will be deplaning using the main cabin door; leave all of your personal belongings and exit the aircraft quickly.' the aft flight attendant walked to the aft of the aircraft once communicated that we would be doing an expedited deplaning. When the aircraft came to a complete stop I assessed outside conditions and open main cabin door. We commanded passengers to 'release seat belts; get out;' 'come this way; get out; go; go.' some passengers were grabbing personal items from overhead bins so I commanded over the PA once again 'leave personal belongings and exit the aircraft.' I turned on emergency lights and continued deplaning. Half way through the deplaning process the fire alarm deactivated on its own. Passengers were calm. Then I heard the captain over the PA state 'evacuate; evacuate; evacuate.' most passengers were already out of the aircraft so we finished the expedited deplaning.once everyone appeared to be out of the aircraft the aft flight attendant and I did a final walk through; checking lavatories. The first officer came out of the flight deck and helped with getting passengers out of the aircraft. After grabbing some blankets we exited the aircraft. The first officer and flight attendants worked together to gather passengers together outside. Fire trucks inspected the plane and police escorted passengers into the terminal. I didn't have a jacket so I was escorted into the terminal with passengers. Captain; first officer; and aft flight attendant talked to the fire department. A hidden electrical fire in forward lavatory triggered the fire alarm to go off.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-900 Flight Attendant reported smoke and odors during taxi resulting in an evacuation.

Narrative: Early afternoon; aircraft was taxing from the deicing pad to the runway. I was seated in forward jump-seat and aft Flight Attendant was standing in the forward galley when the fire alarm in the forward lavatory was activated. I stowed the jump-seat and the aft Flight Attendant opened the lavatory door to assess the fire alarm. Once the lavatory door was opened I sensed a burnt smell and saw smoke rising towards the ceiling of the aircraft. I contacted the flight deck. I notified them about the activated smoke alarm and possible fire. At that point I was asked if I saw smoke to which I replied 'yes;' I was not asked more details about cabin conditions. I called again and mentioned the need to evacuate passengers from the aircraft in case conditions worsen and was told to do an expedited deplaning. I got on the PA and stated 'Remain calm; we will be deplaning using the main cabin door; leave all of your personal belongings and exit the aircraft quickly.' The aft flight attendant walked to the aft of the aircraft once communicated that we would be doing an expedited deplaning. When the aircraft came to a complete stop I assessed outside conditions and open main cabin door. We commanded passengers to 'release seat belts; get out;' 'come this way; get out; go; go.' Some passengers were grabbing personal items from overhead bins so I commanded over the PA once again 'leave personal belongings and exit the aircraft.' I turned on emergency lights and continued deplaning. Half way through the deplaning process the fire alarm deactivated on its own. Passengers were calm. Then I heard the Captain over the PA state 'evacuate; evacuate; evacuate.' Most passengers were already out of the aircraft so we finished the expedited deplaning.Once everyone appeared to be out of the aircraft the aft Flight Attendant and I did a final walk through; checking lavatories. The First Officer came out of the flight deck and helped with getting passengers out of the aircraft. After grabbing some blankets we exited the aircraft. The First Officer and Flight Attendants worked together to gather passengers together outside. Fire trucks inspected the plane and police escorted passengers into the terminal. I didn't have a jacket so I was escorted into the terminal with passengers. Captain; First Officer; and aft Flight Attendant talked to the fire department. A hidden electrical fire in forward lavatory triggered the fire alarm to go off.

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.