Narrative:

Flight attendant called and said she smelled smoke. As she was speaking she said she saw smoke; and then she said she saw flames. She ended the conversation; and we declared an emergency. We followed the memory items; and began a diversion. We called the flight attendant back and she said she used the fire extinguisher and put out the fire. There was no further evidence of fire or smoke. After we landed the crash fire rescue equipment crew met us and cleared us to continue to the gate. It turned out to be an electrical fire in a light bulb socket at a seat.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB135 Captain is informed by the Cabin Attendant of smoke and flames from a passenger overhead light. Crew diverted while Flight Attendant is able to quell the flames with a fire extinguisher.

Narrative: Flight Attendant called and said she smelled smoke. As she was speaking she said she saw smoke; and then she said she saw flames. She ended the conversation; and we declared an emergency. We followed the memory items; and began a diversion. We called the Flight Attendant back and she said she used the fire extinguisher and put out the fire. There was no further evidence of fire or smoke. After we landed the CFR crew met us and cleared us to continue to the gate. It turned out to be an electrical fire in a light bulb socket at a seat.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.