A car fire in the JAX airport garage Friday damaged 50 vehicles and led to airport shutdown.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A police document acquired by First Coast News on Tuesday outlines the sequence of events that led to the parking garage blaze, which forced JAX airport to shut down Friday afternoon. This report also identifies the vehicle at the center of the incident.
Reportedly, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority got an alert from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 12:06 p.m. about a car ablaze in the hourly parking garage.
Officers from the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) were dispatched to the location. The first officer to arrive noted a vehicle was on fire, with flames quickly extending to adjacent vehicles.
The report said the smoke resulted in “low/no visibility” in the garage, so the officer assisted several passengers from the garage to safety.
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue responded and extinguished the fire, but said it had spread to and damaged about 50 other vehicles. JFRD also treated several passengers for smoke inhalation.
The airport then ceased all operations, the report states.
The investigation continued with review of surveillance footage, which showed the following:
- 8:07 a.m.: Dark-colored mid-size BMW enters hourly garage through upper level access
- 8:09 a.m.: Woman parks, exits car and walks toward departures
- 12:03 p.m.: Smoke observed coming from beneath of the front of the car
- 12:04 p.m.: Vehicle is fully engulfed in fire. Camera loses visibility because of smoke
The report does not state whether the BMW was a gas, electric or hybrid vehicle.
