A mid-size BMW appears to be the initial car that caught fire in the Jacksonville International Airport’s Hourly Parking Garage, a police incident report reveals.
Action News Jax told you how the fire began Friday afternoon, starting in one car and spreading to about 50 others.
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An incident report from the Jacksonville Aviation Authority Police Department revealed the timeline of events from Friday. The first four events were spotted on the airport security cameras:
8:07 a.m.: “Mid-size BMW, dark in color enters hourly garage through upper level access.”
8:09 a.m.: “Subject parks and exit vehicle walking towards departures.”
12:03 p.m.: “Smoke observed coming from beneath the front of the vehicle.”
12:04 p.m.: “Vehicle fully engulfed in fire. No more visibility by video due to thick smoke.”
Law enforcement is then alerted to the fire:
12:06 p.m.: AOCC (Airport Operations Communication Center) received a forwarded dispatch from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office about a vehicle on fire in the hourly garage.
JAAPD responded to the garage and the first officer to arrive “assisted several passengers from the hourly garage to safety,” the report said.
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In addition to responding to fight the fire, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department also “treated unknown passengers for smoke inhalation,” the report said.
Eventually, the airport was closed because the JFRD resources being used to fight the fire meant authorities could not “operate the airport while those units are off the airfield,” JFRD Chief Keith Powers said Friday.
The airport reopened at 5 p.m. Friday.
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The Jacksonville Aviation Authority shared the following message Tuesday afternoon about when cars can be picked up:
“The north side of the Hourly Garage (Rows A-E, all levels) is accessible to travelers parked there at 5:00 p.m. today. A call center will be staffed until 7:00 p.m. tonight and reopen at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. Customers that do not remember where they parked are welcome to call 904-741-2710. If customers want to reach out after 7:00 p.m. they can email jax_airport_event@flyjax.com and a call center representative will contact them in the morning. Valet customers can call 904-741-3900."
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Michael Stewart, Jacksonville Aviation Authority Vice President of External Affairs, also shared an update about the parking crunch at the airport:
“We accelerated some construction and are making an additional 297 spaces available tomorrow in Economy Lot 1.”
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