UPDATE - Murfreesboro, TN - It appears that no serious injuries were reported during a Tuesday (8/13/2024) afternoon incident that led to a delivery truck catching on fire. The semi-truck that went up in flames belonged to FedEx and was hauling 30,000 pounds of packages, which were reportedly retail goods ordered by customers.

The fire occurred on I-24 near the Joe B. Jackson Parkway exit in Murfreesboro. Reports indicate the first call about the situation came into the Rutherford County 9-1-1 Dispatch Center at around 3 PM on Tuesday, prompting a wave of emergency response from the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, MFRD firefighters, the Highway Patrol, and T-DOT. Thick clouds of black and gray smoke could be seen from miles away as authorities approached the scene of the eastbound incident at mile marker 84.

At the site of the burning semi-truck, firefighters worked through the summer heat to extinguish the blaze while also protecting nearby motorists. Their focused efforts in dousing the blaze as quickly as possible prevented the fire from spreading to the tree line along the interstate.

During the short-lived inferno, the Joe B. Jackson/I-24 interchange had to be temporarily shut down. As firefighters worked to control the blaze, deputies and police officers advised drivers to detour onto Highway 41-70. Meanwhile, the contents of the tractor-trailer truck, some water-soaked and some covered in black powdery soot, were removed and transferred to the roadside to prevent the fire from reigniting.

Incidents like the one on Tuesday are costly for companies like FedEx. At a minimum, the shipping costs alone that the company will need to refund to customers add up to at least $321,000 at $10.70 per pound. This figure does not include the value of the damaged truck or the value of each package.

When packages are damaged, destroyed, or go missing due to accidents, companies like FedEx typically have plans and insurance in place to cover the goods that do not reach their intended destination. In most cases, customers are reimbursed for the value of the item that failed to arrive and their cost of shipping. Most of these reimbursements likely fall under the FedEx Package Pledge.

After the burned wreckage cooled, it was cleared from the interstate. Traffic flow returned to normal by the early evening hours on Tuesday. It will now be up to FedEx to inventory the recovered packages and contact each customer to begin refund proceedings.