Huge Fire Rips Through Florida Airport, Burning 3500 Cars

(Photo : Pixabay/David Mark)

An inferno at Southwest Florida International Airport destroyed more than 3500 rental vehicles throughout the end of the week.

A fire spread through a grassy area of Southwest Florida International Airport last Friday. Fire crews were called to tackle a huge blaze, which ripped through a rental car overflow car park. Black clouds of fog could be spotted for miles around Fort Myers, a city of around 82,000 people in southwest Florida. Avni said ground and airborne support were given by Florida Forestry Service and numerous local groups of fire-fighters. Various law enforcement agencies in Southwest Florida were likewise on the scene to help and deal with the streets.

Melinda Avni, a Mitigation Specialist for Florida Forestry Service of Caloosahatchee, said authorities were called to extinguish the fire around 5 p.m., Friday when there were around 20 vehicles included.

It gathered a response from each Lee County local group of fire-fighters with the help from aviation and fire departments in neighboring Collier and Charlotte districts. There were likewise 80 water airdrops by means of a Huey helicopter. The combined effort finally bring the fire under control by Saturday morning.

By that time, the fire had covered an area of 15 acres and consumed over 3500 vehicles, nearly half the number parked in the grassy rental car overflow area at the airport in Fort Myers, a Lee County Port Authority spokesperson told CNN affiliate WINK. The surviving 3800 were moved somewhere else and got away from harm, said the local group of fire-fighters authorities.

The fire was fully contained and extinguished by 10:30 a.m. Saturday, nearly 18 hours after it began, as crews worked through the night Friday, putting out the flames to ensure it did not continue to spread or cause further damage.

It's not hard to perceive how it was able to spread so effectively. The vehicles were tightly stuffed together on a dry grassy field during a period of the year when temperatures routinely surpass 30 degrees. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation. The lot was more full than expected due to the downturn in travel caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Being a rental car lot, by far most of the cars would have been of the nonexclusive assortment. Yet, given the sheer number of vehicles that met their fate, a fair few will have been nice ones, think about the standard top-tier rental alternatives like Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Camaros. Some companies will even rent you a Corvette.

In a social media post, the airport thanked all the agencies who responded to the fire incident.

"Thank you to the regional mutual aid fire departments and Division of Forestry for their heroic efforts in aiding RSW in last night's fire. We appreciate their courage and willingness to help our Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting Department. Together they were able to keep all our passengers and airport visitors safe," the Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) said.