SEATTLE- The National Transportation Safety Board is now
investigating a strange electric fire aboard a brand new Japan
Airlines 787 which was discovered 15 minutes after the
passengers and crew disembarked.  A mechanic who boarded the
plane first noticed smoke in the cockpit and called the fire
department.  Massport Fire Chief Bob Donahue briefed reporters
on what firefighters found in the rear cargo compartment.  There
was heavy smoke. We used our thermal imaging equipment to
identify hot spots and identified a fire condition about mid-
ship in the avionics compartment, he said.  Donahue said the
battery and other components were on fire, and that the battery
exploded after the flames were extinguished.  The NTSB
investigation will have to decide if the battery was a symptom
of another problem, or the cause of the fire. But there s a lot
of interest in this case as the Federal Aviation Administration
granted Boeing a waiver to use lithium ion batteries in the
plane.  The modern battery technology is commonly