JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Firefighters were unable to enter the hourly garage at Jacksonville International Airport after a multi-vehicle fire partially collapsed the structure on Friday, according to Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department Chief Keith Powers.
During a news conference Friday evening, Powers said JFRD was using drones to inspect the structure to ensure nobody was in the garage at the time of the fire, which caused damage to about 50 cars.
“Those drones have not, as the mayor said, have not found anything yet. But we won’t know 100% until we can get in there and physically verify,” Powers said.
RELATED | Could hourly garage fire delay plans for new 2,000-space, $92 million parking garage at JAX?
Powers said crews were able to put out most of the fire but added that there were some challenges in fully extinguishing it, as firefighters cannot enter the structure.
“They have got most of that fire knocked down, but obviously we have to be able to get inside of the vehicles, under the hood, inside the compartment space, to fully extinguish it,” Powers said.
Just after noon on Friday, JFRD crews began to battle the second-alarm fire at JAX, prompting officials to close the airport for five hours.
According to Powers, the fire started on the second floor.
“There was a partial collapse on the second and third floors, and then a secondary collapse about 30 minutes later,” Powers said.
According to Powers, the airport had an engineering team on scene assessing the next steps, and compared the incident to the parking garage collapse at Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside in September 2023.
“This is going to be a long, long process, obviously similar to what we dealt with with the St. Vincent’s parking garage. It’s going to be a very similar scenario,” Powers said.
RELATED | ‘It was crazy’: Part of top floor of parking garage collapses at Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside
According to Michael Stewart with the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, the hourly garage will be closed indefinitely until crews can assess the damage and address the issues.
Powers also said the garage was last inspected in October 2024.
No injuries were reported.
At least six incoming flights were diverted to different airports and more than 20 flights were delayed as crews worked to put out the blaze.
The airport reopened at 5 p.m.
Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
