We wanted to follow up on a story that we received several calls and emails about on Tuesday in Murfreesboro…. On Tuesday, we heard vast reports of smoke in the air throughout the city. We also heard that smoke was even denser in the South Church Street area as opposed to other areas of the city. Armed with the phone calls, we contacted Ashley McDonald with the Murfreesboro Fire and Rescue Department.

McDonald told us that burning was not allowed on Tuesday, but at least one person ignored the ruling. However, the one unauthorized burn the city responded to would not have contributed to the smoke that was reported throughout the city. McDonald stated, “We were dispatched to two other locations yesterday for burning but they ended up being in the county. We did have a lawn mower fire, but I doubt that had anything to do with the excessive amount of smoke.”

So, long story short…nothing in Murfreesboro caused the smoke. 

So What Was It?

We confirmed with the Bedford County Sheriff's Department that three brush related fires occurred on Tuesday. One was in the Shelbyville area, one on the Bedford / Coffee County line and one just barely over the Rutherford County line in the Fosterville area. The fire on Midland-Fosterville Road is the blaze that caused the heavy smoke in the Barfield community on the South side of Murfreesboro on Tuesday. 

There you have it... the fire that caused the smoke was in Fosterville. Now you know.