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DHC8 flight crew reported attempting to start the APU during taxi in to the gate but the APU starter light did not go out and the APU did not start. A second attempt is also unsuccessful. After deplaning at the gate; smoke was detected coming from the APU compartment; the APU fire handle was pulled and crash fire rescue was called.

Narrative:

An electrical anomaly occurred upon taxi in to the gate. After deplaning the passengers all electrical power was removed from the aircraft. Under direction from maintenance control ground power was introduced to the aircraft to try and diagnose the problem. At that point the 'check fire detect' warning light illuminated with no other indications. I smelled what I believed to be smoke. I exited the aircraft to perform a visual inspection from the exterior and saw smoke pouring from a vent in the tail section of the aircraft. The automatic thermal fire suppression system had not discharged. I got back on the aircraft and ordered the remaining crew members to evacuate. I manually discharged the APU fire bottle and called ground control to send the fire trucks then removed all electrical power from the aircraft again. Some sort of electrical malfunction caused a fire to start in the tail section of the aircraft.all appropriate check lists and immediate action items were performed. Nothing really could have been done to prevent this other than being extremely cautious when diagnosing an electrical problem. In my opinion it would have happened regardless.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DHC8 flight crew reported attempting to start the APU during taxi in to the gate but the APU starter light did not go out and the APU did not start. A second attempt is also unsuccessful. After deplaning at the gate; smoke was detected coming from the APU compartment; the APU fire handle was pulled and Crash Fire Rescue was called.

Narrative: An electrical anomaly occurred upon taxi in to the gate. After deplaning the passengers all electrical power was removed from the aircraft. Under direction from maintenance control ground power was introduced to the aircraft to try and diagnose the problem. At that point the 'Check Fire Detect' warning light illuminated with no other indications. I smelled what I believed to be smoke. I exited the aircraft to perform a visual inspection from the exterior and saw smoke pouring from a vent in the tail section of the aircraft. The automatic thermal fire suppression system had not discharged. I got back on the aircraft and ordered the remaining crew members to evacuate. I manually discharged the APU fire bottle and called ground control to send the fire trucks then removed all electrical power from the aircraft again. Some sort of electrical malfunction caused a fire to start in the tail section of the aircraft.All appropriate check lists and immediate action items were performed. Nothing really could have been done to prevent this other than being extremely cautious when diagnosing an electrical problem. In my opinion it would have happened regardless.

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.