JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Aviation Authority is expected to get an update at its meeting Monday morning after a devastating fire broke out Friday in the hourly parking garage at Jacksonville International Airport.
On Friday afternoon, officials said about 50 cars were damaged in the fire that shut down the airport for hours. No injuries were reported.
The garage, which was structurally damaged, remains closed, and officials said a “collapse zone” has been established.
“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.
Airport officials said they expect “certain areas” of the hourly garage to be cleared and deemed safe later this week.
As of 7:30 a.m. Monday, the daily garage and daily surface lot were listed as 100% full and valet parking was closed. Economy lots were 83% full.
Airport officials are urging travelers to either rideshare to and from the airport or have someone drop them off or pick them up.
In the meantime, the airport has also created an online form to update those who had cars affected by the fire.
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
In a news conference on Friday, Mayor Donna Deegan said about 50 cars were damaged from the fire that was still burning at the time.
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. Friday, about six hours after the first reports came in about the fire.
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 p.m. Friday about smoke.
“Our firefighters went in and started getting those folks that were in the garage out of there and began to actively fight the fire,” Powers said. “We have to be able to get inside 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 as the fire raged in the garage Friday afternoon. 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 during the airport shutdown.
Travelers continued to feel the effects of the fire damage through the weekend, as pick-up and drop-off areas in the airport were jammed with cars that might normally use the hourly garage.
Rental car drop-off has also been affected because the rental car areas in the ground floor of the hourly garage had to be moved for safety.
