UPDATE – Murfreesboro, TN – No serious injuries appear to have been reported in an incident Tuesday afternoon (8/13/2024) in which a delivery truck caught fire. The semi-truck that burst into flames belonged to FedEx and was transporting 30,000 pounds of packages that reportedly included retail goods ordered by customers.
The fire broke out on I-24 near the Joe B. Jackson Parkway exit in Murfreesboro. The first call reportedly came in to Rutherford County Emergency Services around 3 p.m. Tuesday, prompting a flurry of calls from the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, MFRD Fire Department, Highway Patrol and T-DOT. Thick plumes of black and gray smoke were visible from a distance as emergency crews approached the scene of the incident eastbound at mile marker 84.
At the scene of the tractor-trailer fire, firefighters worked despite the summer heat to extinguish the fire while protecting nearby motorists. Their concentrated efforts to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible prevented the fire from spreading to the tree line along the highway.
During the brief inferno, the Joe B. Jackson/I-24 intersection was temporarily closed. While firefighters attempted to control the fire, sheriff’s deputies and police advised drivers to take Highway 41-70. In the meantime, the contents of the semi-trailer, partially soaked with water and partially covered in black soot, were recovered and moved to the side of the road to prevent the fire from flaring up again.
Incidents like Tuesday’s are costly for companies like FedEx. The shipping costs alone that the company must reimburse its customers amount to at least $321,000 at $10.70 per pound. That figure does not include the value of the damaged truck and the value of the individual packages.
When packages are damaged, destroyed, or lost due to accidents, companies like FedEx usually have plans and insurance to cover the goods that do not reach their intended destination. In most cases, customers are reimbursed for the value of the item that did not arrive and the shipping costs. Most of these refunds are likely to fall under the FedEx Parcel Promise.
After the burned wreckage cooled, it was cleared from the highway. Traffic returned to normal by early evening Tuesday. It is now up to FedEx to inventory the recovered packages and contact each customer to initiate the refund process.
