KAHULUI, Hawaii -- A man drove his sport utility vehicle into the ticket lobby of Kahului Airport Sunday morning and set it on fire.

It happened at about 8 a.m.

Video

Man Arrested Flights Delayed

Paul Blatchley, 52, of Haiku, drove into the south end of the airport ticket lobby, near the United Airlines counter, and set his vehicle on fire.

"Once he parked the car. He lit a flamable liquid in the back seat and the whole vehicle went on fire," Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.

"We heard somebody pull up into the lobby, honk the horn. We looked over and saw the car go up in flames. So, we grabbed the kids. We ended up leaving the luggage at the airport actually," witness Orlando Frasca said.

Kapaa High School Coach Jeremy Haupt and his swim team from Kauai saw the arrest as they rode in a shuttle bus.

"The guy, he got out. He lit his car on fire and the TSA (Transportation Security Agency) guy came and yanked him out of his car and they took him and tackled him and took him down," Haupt said.

No one was in the terminal at the time and no one was injured.

The FBI is investigating the incident and the man was arrested for first-degree criminal property damage. He was taken into custody at the Wailuku police station.

Sources said witnesses told a security guard Blatchley said, "Leave me alone. Leave me alone. I want to die."

DOT officials said the man drove into the terminal using the wheelchair ramps. The fire caused ceiling and damage at the airport and sprinklers need to be replaced.

Incident Delays Flights In, Out Of Maui

The fire and the investigation blocked access to security equipment needed to scan outgoing baggage. It also took a long time because they had to fly in bomb detection dogs to check out the car before they moved it.

Civil Defense and the Red Cross hosted hundreds of stranded travelers at War Memorial Gym in Wailuku.

The Kalani High School swim team was happy to be back in Honolulu after spending hours waiting for their flight on Maui. The bizarre car-burning incident on Maui left them among thousands of people unable to leave the Valley Isle.

Many travelers were unsure of what happened.

"It was really confusing. We heard rumors, like at first, we heard the guy who was driving the car was dead and then he was alive and captured by security," Kalani student Tasha Fraher said.

Flights to Maui were also disrupted. The Baldwin High School basketball team was told they had to wait two hours for their flight home from Oahu.

The scene was made even stranger when crews arrived to set up water-filled barricades outside the inter-island departure area at the Honolulu International Airport. Apparently, the threat of car bombs was never taken seriously until after the incident.

Maui passengers finally reached Honolulu at 7:30 p.m. Many talked about how they beat the crowd for the first flight.

"You know like trying to be the first one on the bus and get over there cause we knew it was going to be just chaos over there,"

Finally, we walked to the terminal as they were pulling the other car away that had been on fire and then they let us get into the airport and start our day again,"

There were some hot tempers, but most of the people KITV 4 News spoke with said they were impressed by the patience shown by everyone involved.