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A car fire in the JAX airport’s hourly parking garage Friday damaged 50 vehicles and led to an airport shutdown.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A police report obtained by First Coast News Tuesday details the events leading up to the parking garage fire that shut down the JAX airport Friday afternoon. It also reveals the car responsible for the fire.
According to the report, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) received a dispatch call from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 12:06 p.m. regarding a vehicle on fire in the hourly garage.
JAA officers then responded to the garage. The first officer on scene said he discovered a car had caught on fire with flames rapidly spreading to the cars around it.
The report states 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.