The 2014 Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center fire was an incident in the United States involving arson[1] at an air traffic control facility in Aurora, Illinois[2] (also known as "Chicago Center");[3] the incident caused close to 2,000 airline flights to be grounded.
[9] On September 26, at approximately 5:20 am, Brian Howard had gained access to the basement of the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) facility in Aurora, Illinois.
This led to a loss of radar services and communications used by controllers to direct air traffic in the Chicago region, and to an evacuation of the building.
By 6:00 am, a ground stop was implemented at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport as an emergency measure to alleviate traffic loads.
Eventually this situation was improved by adjusting radar and communication equipment at the neighboring Centers around Chicago to regain capability.