Ten fire departments from two counties fought a large field fire on Thursday afternoon about three miles southwest of Franklin, which caused ash to fall downtown and in subdivisions.
It took crews more than two hours to extinguish the fire, which started on a combine at Duckworth Farms, 862 E. County Road 125 S. Fire investigators aren’t sure yet what caused the combine to catch fire, Franklin Fire Department spokesman Brad Epperson said.
“It was a very large fire that was complicated by dry conditions and windy conditions,” Epperson said.
“The ash was probably from it as it was blowing toward town. That was a result of the corn stalks burning. There was a lot of fuel for the fire and conditions were such that the fire was able to spread aggressively and required firefighters to take a defensive and offensive approach to control and prevent further spreading.”
It it unclear at this time how many acres of crops were damaged, he said. Water supply may have been an issue had so many tankers not responded.
No injuries were reported.
Eight fire departments from Johnson County and two Shelby County departments helped fight the fire: Franklin, Amity, Trafalgar, Needham, Nineveh, Bargersville, Edinburgh, Whiteland, Flat Rock and Marietta.
