The air traffic control tower at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was briefly evacuated on Friday after a fire alarm and reports of a gas smell.

The evacuation occurred around 5 p.m., leading to a ground stop for all inbound flights through 6:15 p.m.

The ground stop was lifted about 45 minutes later, FOX 5 Atlanta noted.

CNN shared:

“Just keep taxiing V then F,” one controller told a pilot according to a recording by LiveATC.net. “Were evacuating, so we are going ATC Zero, so you can call the ramp when you get close.”

“ATC Zero” means that the FAA facility is not providing any air traffic control services.

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“Everyone is going downstairs, so we’ll see what is happening here,” one controller told a pilot he was directing.

“The frequency is going to be unmanned for a while, because I have to evacuate as well,” the ground controller told pilots. “Just hold tight.”

A ground stop was issued for flights headed to the airport, forcing them to wait to take off. Some flights in the air were able to land, with assistance from the approach controllers that normally guide planes to the airport, but usually hands them off to the tower for landing.

An FAA official told media that Atlanta Fire Rescue responded to investigate the situation.

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More from FOX 5 Atlanta:

According to FlightAware.com, flight delays jumped from just over 280 to 360 during that time span. By the end of the night, the number of canceled flights nearly topped 600.

Ten flights were canceled for the day on Friday.

Sources told FOX 5’s Tyler Fingert that some flights were being diverted or were in a holding pattern. Radar images provided by FlightAware showed multiple flights circling near the Georgia line from various approach vectors.

Firefighter said no gas was found in the tower.

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