Mary Reeves, The Daily news Journal, November 11, 2015
(for the WGNS Radio article, please click here)
EAGLEVILLE — For more than a century, the old two-story farmhouse sat on its hill, overlooking Highway 41A just north of Eagleville’s downtown.
It aged gracefully, adding siding to cover its square cut logs, modernizing, changing with the times as times changed.
For 43 years, Betty and Robert Richardson called it home.
Weary firefighters try to catch a quick break in Eagleville after battling the blaze for hours.(Photo: Mary Reeves)
In a matter of hours, it burned down.
Fire destroyed the 19th century home Tuesday afternoon, despite efforts of firefighters from several fire and rescue departments throughout the area.
What few walls remained were going to have to be torn down,authorities said, so the firefighters could extinguish the hot spots and remove the danger of fire spreading to nearby homes.
Smoke flowed so heavily that visibility on the nearby highway was extremely poor, making the working conditions for the firefighters and other first-responders even harder, authorities said.
Deputies rerouted traffic, trucks from at least three different departments made repeated runs to keep a temporary reservoir filled for the pumper trucks. Volunteer and professional firefighters came from miles around, including Rutherford and Williamson County, providing mutual aid for the Eagleville Fire Department.
Betty and Robert Richardson looked on.
“It’s gone. It’s just gone,” Betty Richardson said.
She had left a few hours before to go to the store. She had to drive by the house later, on her way to Tractor Supply Co., and, as always, looked over.
“It was just fine,” she said. “But when I was at Tractor Supply, my daughter-in-law called me and said, ‘Your house is on fire!’”
A College Grove woman in the store drive her home, with a man from Tractor Supply following. By the time they got there, the house was engulfed.
“It went that quick,” said Betty Richardson.
Her husband, Robert Richardson, said they had had a small fire in the house several years ago.
“We caught that one, it was in a chimney,” he said. “We got lucky that time. We didn’t get lucky this time.”
The cause is unknown at this time, but Betty Richardson said she knows she didn’t leave the stove on or anything like that.
The couple have grown children who also have homes on the property, and they were there, offering support, shelter and shoulders to cry on.
The greatest relief for all was that no one was killed, they said, and no one was injured. One firefighter was attended to by EMTs for fatigue.
“The house is gone. It is gone,” Betty Richardson repeated. “But look at what we’ve got. We’ve got family and neighbors. That’s what’s good about Eagleville. When you need them, they are there.”
You can reach Mary at 615-278-5109. You can follow her on Twitter @MaryReevesDNJ.