School administrator talks about the fire that destroyed the Bill Rice Christian Academy building

MURFRESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) – A Rutherford County school is working to rebuild after one of its buildings burned down on Monday, August 29.

Sometimes the outside of something doesn’t always match the inside.

This is unfortunately the case for the Joe B. Rice administration building.

“This is where the students were and not too long ago they were learning here, which makes it difficult,” Nathan Reeves said. “Hard to swallow.”

This building not only housed the staff offices, but also the middle and high school classrooms of the Bill Rice Christian Academy in Murfreesboro.

“Once in a while, my mind will be like, ‘oh you gotta run to administration. Oh yeah, we don’t have an administration building,'” Reeves said.

Reeves is the school administrator and says last Monday was supposed to be a normal day.

“One of the things on our schedule for that day was a fire drill,” he said.

Fortunately, students and staff were out of the building when it caught fire.

Reeves was told something electrical may have started the fire, but walking through the rubble is still hard to figure out.

“It’s a moving thing to see all these things,” he said. “You just have to walk down the halls, even look at pictures from the previous week of kids in their classrooms, walk down the halls and know it’s never going to look exactly like this.”

For more than 20 years, Reeves walked these halls supervising students.

And while ash and debris now fill this building, he knows students and staff will be back in the hallways.

“It definitely throws a wrench in your day, but God sure got us through it all,” Reeves said.

Reeves says it will take about six to eight months to repair the entire building.

The school started a building fund as well as a student fund to try to help students replace all of their supplies lost in the fire.

You can donate to the HERE Student Fund and the HERE Building Fund.