Workers are seen inside the fire-damaged parking garage at Jacksonville International Airport. | Jacksonville Airport Authority
Published on May 30, 2025 at 4:46 pm
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Two weeks after a massive fire tore through a parking garage at Jacksonville International Airport, about 60 vehicles remain trapped on the most seriously damaged floors.
The vehicles sit on the the third and fourth floors of the garage as an investigation of the fire continues. Airport officials continue to shore up lower decks in preparation for safely removing vehicles still on its upper decks.
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Airport authority spokesperson Michael Stewart said the combined weight of vehicles on the top floor (the fourth) is adding to the instability of the structure. No one can go near them or the 18 still inaccessible on the third floor, which slows part of the investigation, he said.
“The last thing we want to do is for someone to go in there, and a piece of concrete hits somebody whether it is a car owner or us,” Stewart said. “So no, I couldn’t tell you even an estimate on when the third floor shoring will be complete.”
Meanwhile, the attorney whose law firm represents 20 to 25 clients affected by the fire said he has warned some of them that their vehicles could be a lost cause.
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“There’s a very good likelihood that they are the closest to the fire, so the chances of the car being severely damaged or totaled are very good, that they should file claim with their insurance carrier and let them know the circumstances,” said Morgan and Morgan attorney Ryan Will.
Will said no lawsuit has been filed as his team awaits the state fire marshal’s findings on the cause and origin of the fire.
The fire was reported about noon May 16 in the southern part of the hourly garage next to the surface lots. It soon spread to about 50 other vehicles, damaging those parked on the third and fourth decks of the garage and causing a partial collapse of the parking structure.
The cause remains unknown, but the initial police report indicated the fire began in a BMW parked on the third floor about 8 a.m.
Part of the investigation will involve the car that Stewart said investigators believe was “ground zero, that caused the initial fire.” The proposal now is to get the BMW and the vehicles on either side out for investigation, which may happen in about two weeks, he said.
First, crews are installing braces on the first and second floors to reinforce it, he said.
“The shoring started on the first floor and is completed. It moved to the second floor, and they are getting close to completing it on the second floor,” Stewart said. “They will have to do shoring on their third floor. So until the structural engineers get in there and determine how much more extensive damage or instability there is, this third floor shoring is not going to be as fast as one and two.”
Stewart said it could take “several weeks to several months” to complete the investigation. There also is no estimate of when the trapped cars can be removed or when their owners can get to them.
Will said the vehicles of Morgan and Morgan’s clients have basically been “impounded” until the investigation is done.
“It’s hard to gather any information about where they are located, and what damages have been sustained,” he said. “We expect that information will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.”
To help with stabilizing the parking garage, the airport authority will be removing solar panels that ringed the top level, Stewart said.
“That will be the next thing that you will see,” he said. “There will be some safety issues that we will do. Then we will bring in a crane, and they will have to be cut loose and be brought down. That also helps with the structure itself because it is offloading some weight.“
The next step would be getting the cars off the top deck.
“But understand, even that could cause some jostling,” Stewart said. “What we don’t want to do is put additional weight up there to remove some weight off of there until we know how bad that fourth floor is,” he said.
Anyone who may still have a vehicle inside the garage can check its status or contact the airport for assistance by going to flyjax.com.
