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Part of the second and third floors of the hourly parking garage collapsed during the massive fire, and firefighters haven’t been able to enter due to safety concerns.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Following Friday’s significant fire resulting in a partial collapse of its hourly parking garage, Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) has established a temporary rental car return area for passengers.
In a post on X Friday evening, JAX officials announced that the temporary rental car return area for Enterprise, Alamo, and National is situated at Staggerwing Court.
Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz and Thrifty will be returned on Rental Car Lane.
Sixt customers will return vehicles to the Aviation Authority admin office (14201 Pecan Park Road), the post said.
The airport reopened at 5 p.m. Friday after the massive fire caused the airport to close and ground flights for more than four hours.
According to Jacksonville Fire and Rescue, the fire is believed to have started around noon in a car on the second floor of the hourly parking garage. Officials said the fire eventually spread to about 50 other vehicles and caused a partial collapse of two floors. Officials said the fire is under control, but still burning.
There have been no reported injuries so far, according to Mayor Donna Deegan. Because part of the second and third floors collapsed, firefighters have not been able to enter the garage for safety reasons. Instead, JFRD has been using a drone to search for victims and assess the damage.
“Thank goodness it doesn’t look like anybody’s hurt,” Deegan said. “We can’t be 100 percent sure until we can get in there and actually access those vehicles, but they did send a drone in and it looks like, from what we can tell, nobody was in there and nobody got hurt and they got people out pretty quick.”
Deegan praised the airport, fire department and sheriff’s office for their handling of the fire, the travelers and the traffic.
The hourly and daily parking garages will be closed Friday evening, which account for about 2,000 parking spots. Michael Stewart with JAX Aviation Authority suggested travelers use Uber or Lyft or off-airport parking options.
According to the JAX website, the hourly garage was at 95% capacity at the time the fire was reported. Officials have not yet said when travelers can pick up their vehicles from the hourly or daily parking garages
