The Greatest Events in JFRD History
May 3rd, 1901- The Great Fire of Jacksonville
Around noon, a spark from a kitchen fire during the lunch hour at the Cleaveland Mattress Factory set mattresses filled with spanish moss on fire at the factory, located in an area now known as LaVilla. By the time the Jacksonville Fire Department arrived, the fire had spread from the outside platform upon which it started, to the pine buildings, which rapidly became a seething mass.....Read More.
December 29th, 1963- The Roosevelt Hotel Fire
22 people died, including Assistant Chief James Romedy as a fire started in the ballroom on the second floor.
A very prominent hotel at the time, The Roosevelt was hosting such distinguished guests at the tme of the blaze. Among the guests were University of Florida basketball coach Norm Sloan and Miss America Donna Axum.....Read More
August 18th, 1984- Triangle Oil Refinery Fire
Lightning struck a tank at the Triangle Oil Refinery, igniting the department's largest fire of the 1980s.....Read More
June 18th, 1990- GMAC Massacre in Baymeadows
January 2nd-6th 1993- Steuart Petroleum Fire
Jacksonville Fire Fighters became the first fire department to ever extinguish a blaze in this type of oil tank..... Read More
June 17th-24th 1998- Wildfires of 1998
The state of Florida was under siege for most of the summer of 1998 as massive wildfires sprung up all over the state. Things were no different in Jacksonville as the JFRD stood its ground against the largest wildfire in the city's history.....Read More
Hurricanes of 2004
The Hurricane Season of 2004 brought four hurricanes to the shores of Florida. Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne wreaked Havoc on Florida to the tune of millions of dollars....Read More.
August 2005- Hurricane Katrina
The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department answered the call for help after the most destructive hurricane on modern record cut a swathe through the gulf states, destroying Alabama and Mississippi and leaving the major metropolitan city of New Orleans a ghost town.....Read More
December 6th, 2007- Berkman Plaza Parking Garage Collapse
December 19th- 2007- T2 Chemical Plant Explosion
