'I thought we are going to explode' Passengers recall Frontier plane that caught on fire at Harry Reid airport

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Passengers recalled the frightening moments their Frontier Airlines plane caught on fire at Harry Reid International Airport on Saturday.

"I noticed something kind of weird, but I don't really know what happened," said passenger Jose Mena.

”We are a little shaken up from the flight. The last thing we expected was to land in Vegas and be surrounded by fire vehicles, you know, when we touched down. It was a very hard landing followed by shaking of the plane," said Kevin Joseif, who was a passenger on the flight.

According to Frontier Airlines:
"As Flight 1326 from San Diego to Las Vegas was in the process of landing at LAS this afternoon at approximately 3.15p PT, the pilots detected smoke and declared an emergency."

Frontier said a total of 190 passengers and seven crew members were on board and no injuries were reported.

Mena had a connecting flight to El Paso after landing in Las Vegas and said he was worried about getting on the next plane.

"I just scared a little bit because it was two hours before that incident happened," Mena said.

Mena recalls passengers being confused and left in the dark about the situation.

"Honestly, I thought that we are going to explode because we saw the fire and we didn't know why," Mena said.

"Before we even landed, you can see them [fire crews] on the ground. It was kind of weird that they were on the tarmac with their lights on. I figured something was wrong, I didn’t think it was our plane," Joseif said. "I don’t think the crew themselves really knew what was going on either, so we just stayed put until they told us to exit the plane. I’m actually a firefighter, so the fact that they only put a little bit of water told me something was wrong with the brakes or the wheels."

The plane was very hot inside because of the flames, according to Mena.

"There was a child that was crying at the moment," Mena said. "The temperature, I think it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It was very hot."

Frontier tells Channel 13 all of the customers on the aircraft will be getting a refund.

Meantime, Joseif said this experience left his family frightened, and are not sure if they will be getting on a plane any time soon.

"My whole family is shaken up. We are talking about getting a van and driving home because we don’t want to fly again after that," he said.