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Deliveries to 16 ZIP codes affected by fire at UPS facility in Athens, Tenn.

A UPS driver unloads packages from a truck and arranges them for delivery in New York. Following a large fire at its Athens, Tenn., facility on Dec. 3, 2024, UPS has put a contingency plan in place to restore deliveries and pickups in the 16 affected ZIP codes in McMinn and surrounding counties. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) A UPS driver unloads packages from a truck and arranges them for delivery in New York. Following a large fire at its Athens, Tenn., facility on Dec. 3, 2024, UPS has put a contingency plan in place to restore deliveries and pickups in the 16 affected ZIP codes in McMinn and surrounding counties. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

By Ben Benton December 5, 2024 2 min read

Fire damage at a UPS facility in Athens, Tennessee, from a blaze that broke out late Tuesday will temporarily affect customers in 16 Tennessee postal codes in McMinn and surrounding counties, according to a company statement.

The fire that engulfed the structure caused heavy damage to the building and 24 UPS trucks, according to a statement from Brandon Ainsworth, the fire chief in Athens. Two people inside the building when the fire began made it out safely, and there were no injuries reported.

There were no pickups or deliveries on Wednesday in the affected areas that include McMinn, Meigs, Monroe and Loudon counties, as well as the Spring City, Watts Bar Dam and Grandview Mountain areas of Bledsoe, Rhea and Cumberland counties, the company said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Jim Mayer, spokesperson for UPS, said the company is getting back up to speed quickly.

“With effective contingency plans and the resilience of UPS’s people, we are running today at full capacity in all the areas served by our Athens, Tennessee, facility,” Mayer said Thursday in a follow-up email. “We’re making use of alternative and temporary facilities to serve our customers, and UPS will make pickups and deliveries in all 16 ZIP codes impacted by Tuesday’s incident.”

There is a backlog of packages and drivers are “working diligently to deliver every package as soon as possible,” Mayer said.

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Damage to packages at the facility wasn’t as bad as it might have been because inbound packages hadn’t been unloaded yet, he said.

“Customers in Athens and the rest of the country can be confident that UPS will deliver throughout the holidays,” Mayer said. “UPS has been an industry leader in on-time delivery performance for six holiday shipping seasons, and we intend to make it seven.”

Mayer did not answer a question about how many packages were destroyed or what customers could do if theirs was among them.

Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.