Narrative:

During cruise at FL340; we received an amber cargo loop fault light with master caution. Before we were able to work the problem; the message disappeared. Shortly after this we received a few more loop fault lights; a master warning and the aft cargo compartment smoke light. We declared an emergency and determined ZZZ was our best option to land as soon as possible. An emergency descent was initiated as center coordinated vectors. Agent 1 fire suppression was discharged in the aft cargo compartment. Shortly after this; the warning went out and the ECAM cleared up. We continued treating it as though we still had a possible fire and landed safely as crash fire rescue equipment met our aircraft. We performed an emergency evacuation checklist. Once the checklist was completed; we removed our oxygen masks. At this point we had not smelled or seen any smoke. I opened the door which allows access to the main deck cargo; again could not see or smell any smoke. I then opened the cockpit window to check with crash fire rescue equipment for the presence of heat or fire on board. After getting an ok from them; I decided to not blow the slide. We egressed out the main entry door; down a ladder provided by crash fire rescue equipment. The aircraft was towed to our operations ramp. Once on the ramp; there seemed little direction on how we would find out what happened in the aft cargo. The freight was just being moved from our aircraft to the one setting next to it. The ZZZ supervisor told my first officer he checked the containers with hazmat and felt that was enough until the possibility of undeclared hazmat was brought up! After some phone calls to system operations; we were told by the load supervisor all containers were inspected and no evidence of damage was found. Our main concern once on the ground was what actually happened. When we saw the freight just coming off our aircraft and being loaded onto the next aircraft; we alerted the new crew to what was going on. We are concerned as to what procedures are actually in place for checking for damage in a possible fire situation. All we saw was the old 'lets move the payload mentality' with no regard for the safety of the two crewmembers being asked to take the same load on to the next station.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The flight crew of a widebody aircraft declared an emergency and diverted when an initial warning regarding a fire detection loop fault devolved into a Master Warning and Aft Cargo Compartment Smoke warning.

Narrative: During cruise at FL340; we received an amber Cargo Loop fault light with Master caution. Before we were able to work the problem; the message disappeared. Shortly after this we received a few more loop fault lights; a Master Warning and the Aft Cargo Compartment Smoke light. We declared an emergency and determined ZZZ was our best option to LAND ASAP. An emergency descent was initiated as Center coordinated vectors. Agent 1 fire suppression was discharged in the AFT Cargo Compartment. Shortly after this; the warning went out and the ECAM cleared up. We continued treating it as though we still had a possible fire and landed safely as CFR met our aircraft. We performed an emergency evacuation checklist. Once the checklist was completed; we removed our oxygen masks. At this point we had not smelled or seen any smoke. I opened the door which allows access to the main deck cargo; again could not see or smell any smoke. I then opened the cockpit window to check with CFR for the presence of heat or fire on board. After getting an OK from them; I decided to not blow the slide. We egressed out the main entry door; down a ladder provided by CFR. The aircraft was towed to our operations ramp. Once on the ramp; there seemed little direction on how we would find out what happened in the aft cargo. The freight was just being moved from our aircraft to the one setting next to it. The ZZZ supervisor told my First Officer he checked the containers with HAZMAT and felt that was enough until the possibility of undeclared hazmat was brought up! After some phone calls to System Operations; we were told by the load supervisor all containers were inspected and no evidence of damage was found. Our main concern once on the ground was what actually happened. When we saw the freight just coming off our aircraft and being loaded onto the next aircraft; we alerted the new crew to what was going on. We are concerned as to what procedures are actually in place for checking for damage in a possible fire situation. All we saw was the old 'lets move the payload mentality' with no regard for the safety of the two crewmembers being asked to take the same load on to the next station.

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.