JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville International Airport said it expects “certain areas” of the hourly garage to be cleared and deemed safe later this week.
The Hourly Garage remains closed. Officials have established a collapse zone. At this time only authorized personnel are able to access the garage. All other individuals are prohibited from entering this area to ensure their safety. Crews are working to establish safe areas of… pic.twitter.com/TX9xi8pgCo
— JAXairport (@JAXairport) May 18, 2025
Officials added that the garage remains closed and that they have established a “collapse zone.”
“At this time only authorized personnel are able to access the garage. All other individuals are prohibited from entering this area to ensure their safety. Crews are working to establish safe areas of the garage where cars may be removed,” the airport said.
The airport has also created an online form to update those who had cars affected by the fire.
On Friday afternoon, officials said about 50 cars were damaged after a fire broke out in the hourly garage at the Jacksonville International Airport. The airport reopened at 5 p.m. that day.
In a press conference, Mayor Donna Deegan said there were about 50 cars that were damaged from the fire that was still burning, but under control. Deegan also said the fire started on the second floor with one car and spread to the other cars.
Watch the full press conference below.
“They’ve sent in a drone and so far, it looks like we’re in good shape. We can’t know for 100% sure until we can actually get in there and inspect this car,” Deegan said.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, all streets around the airport were opened just after 6 p.m.
The Hourly Garage is still closed, but other parking facilities (Daily Garage, Daily Surface Lot and Economy Lots) are accessible. Airport shuttle buses will take them to their vehicles. The pick-up location is the pre-arranged/premier parking lot on the lower level of Baggage…
— JAXairport (@JAXairport) May 16, 2025
JFRD Fire Chief Keith Powers said they got a call just after 12 about smoke.
“Our firefighters went in and started getting those folks that were in the garage out of there and begin to actively fight the fire,” Powers said. “We have to be able to get inside of the vehicles, under the hood, inside the compartment space, to fully extinguish it.”
He said there was a partial collapse on the second and third floors, then a secondary collapse about 30 minutes later.
“We’re not putting firefighters in there. We’re using drones to look for anybody that could be in there...but we won’t know until we can get in there and physically verify...this is going to be a long, long process, obviously similar to what we dealt with at the St. Vincent’s parking garage,” Powers said.
Powers also said that they have video of the fire starting, but could not confirm what type of vehicle ignited the fire.
Dark smoke could be seen billowing into the air. A viewer sent in footage of the fire.
RELATED: Could hourly garage fire delay plans for new 2,000-space, $92 million parking garage at JAX?
According to FlightAware, at least two dozen flights were delayed.
