Two people were killed when a small plane crashed into several semitrailers, setting them on fire near an airfield outside Fort Worth on Sunday afternoon, the authorities said.
The crash happened around 1:30 p.m. near Hicks Airfield at a business complex surrounded by small businesses and suburban homes.
Firefighters and emergency workers from multiple agencies, including the Fort Worth Fire Department, responded to the scene, where they found two people who had died, said a spokesman for the department, Craig Trojacek.
The plane, he said, crashed in a parking lot where 18-wheeler semitrailers, as well as campers, were being stored, some of which were on fire in addition to the plane. A commercial building was also on fire, Mr. Trojacek said.
“We thought we were responding to two separate incidents,” he said. “Later on, we realized it was all part of the same one.”
He said that the plane appeared to be heading north, but did not have more information about where it had taken off, or its route.
It was unknown what led up to the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that it was investigating the crash of the plane, a Beech King Air C90. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating, said Robbie Hoy, a public information officer for the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.
Lois Kinman, a representative for Hicks Airfield, said that the plane was not based there. She said she did not have any additional information. The Fort Worth Fire Department said in a statement that the plane had taken off from Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, which is about seven miles northeast of Hicks Airfield.
Witnesses described clouds of billowing black smoke and scenes of mayhem as some rushed to try to help.
Gregory Delano, 20, who was inside a nearby pool hall with about 75 others for his weekly league game, said someone ran inside and said there had been a plane crash, and that they needed help.
He said that he and a friend ran out the side door, jumped a concrete fence behind the building, and climbed a hill toward the scene.
As they approached, he said, they saw “a huge ball of fire and smoke.” Mr. Delano said he walked the perimeter but did not see any signs of life.
“You honestly couldn’t even tell a plane was inside that fire,” he said.
Near the crash site, another witness, Lauren Anderson, a cashier at an animal feed store, said that she had seen a “giant black cloud of smoke” that seemed at least 100 feet wide.
“There was probably about a 20-, 30-minute window where it was just nonstop emergency vehicles,” she said.
Later, the smoke had cleared, Ms. Anderson said.
“Honestly, it just kind of looks like nothing even happened,” she added. “It’s like, a weird feeling, knowing something did.”