Huge Fire Destroys Thousands Of Rental Cars At Florida Airport
FORT MYERS, Florida. — Thousands of rental cars are a total loss after a huge blaze in southern Florida.
Firefighters battled the fire at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers all night Friday and Saturday morning. The fire burned over 15-acres and destroyed over 3,500 rental cars from various companies in an overflow lot.
Melinda Avni, a Mitigation Specialist for Florida Forestry Service of Caloosahatchee, said authorities were called to put out the fire around 5 p.m. Friday when there were about 20 vehicles involved.
“By the time we had units on the scene, we had 100 cars (on fire). We lost count after the hundreds,” she said.
At least 80 airdrops were made by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office’s aviation unit, it said in a Facebook post.
The billowing black smoke could be seen for miles, and images of the dark cloud showed up on social media. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said the fire had no impact on air traffic or operations at the airport.
In a Facebook post, the airport thanked all the agencies who responded to the blaze.
“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 airport said.
