Three passenger buses engulfed in flames at LAX, causing traffic delays

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Three unoccupied passenger buses caught fire Saturday night at Los Angeles International Airport, fire officials said.

Shortly after 9 p.m., LAX Airport said on its Twitter account that "there is a significant fire emergency at the LAX-it lot. Emergency responders are on scene. More to come. No immediate reports of injuries."

Thick black smoke was seen spewing from the buses, two of which were completely destroyed.

A fire erupted aboard one of the propane-powered buses after a mechanical or electrical issue. Flames quickly spread to a second bus before jumping to a third.

There were no reports of injuries, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department, but the cleanup prompted the closing of the lots and was causing delays for airport traffic.

"It was a big fire, they are propane. That was part of the safety reasons why it was very important for us to evacuate the area and render it safe and create a perimeter, we didn't know how much. But the bus was fully engulfed because of the big flames," Los Angeles Airport Police Lt. Karla Rodriguez said.

The scene was cleared around 9:45 p.m., according to the airport's Twitter account, with Lyft, Uber and taxi services expected to resume operations.

Traffic around the airport was snarled, with congestion on roadways into the major travel hub during the holiday rush.

An investigation is ongoing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.