By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Tim Malone walked into the Gatlinburg (Tenn.) city hall Monday morning seeking a permit to demolish the remains of the house at 319 Hilltop Road – the house he and wife Melissa and daughters Kaitlyn and Courtney had called home for the last 10 years.
The Malone residence was one of the nearly 1,700 homes or businesses destroyed by the wildfires that swept across portions of Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee in late November, killing 14 people. According to local news reports, two fires are still burning, but officials estimate them to be roughly 95 percent under control.
The city is slowly springing back to life. Businesses in the city re-opened last week and the hope is that tourists and vacationers will start trickling back into town for the holidays. For Malone, an FLW Tour angler, he’s just thankful he and his family survived the tragic situation.
“I’m really pretty good. I try to keep it all in perspective,” Malone said earlier this week. “There are people here who lost family members. My family got out safe. The house can be rebuilt and the things in it can be replaced.
“The city is doing its best right now,” Malone added. “They had to get a new landfill set up to handle all of the debris, so everything’s been in a holding pattern. They weren’t issuing any permits because of that, but now that’s set up and people want to get started. There is going to be a lot of debris pulled off these mountains.”
‘Like a Blowtorch’
Malone said the fire that ultimately consumed his house and many others in his neighborhood had been burning for a couple of days prior to it reaching Hilltop Road. The fire’s origin was roughly 10 miles from where his house is located, but drought conditions and hurricane-force winds (up to 80 mph) allowed it to spread rapidly and often unpredictably.
On Nov. 28, Malone and his family decided to evacuate their home. They scrambled through the house to gather what they could.
“You’re not thinking straight,” Malone said. “It was just grab what I saw. You’re just running through the house. I grabbed photos off the hallway walls, we grabbed two laptops, some clothes. My wife grabbed some paperwork. What I have here in my truck right now is basically all we have.”
He had just returned from picking up his 2017 tournament boat so he took that along with his wife and youngest daughter to a church in town. Malone then returned to the house with the hope he could protect it from the blaze.
“The fire that was above us wasn’t moving fast and I felt like I could fight it off,” he said. “I got back to the house and started spraying the house with the hose.”
When he came around the front of the house, he saw a “firestorm” coming. Another fire was being fueled by the wind and he had to dodge large chunks of fiery debris that were being blown toward his house from the neighboring ridge.
“I couldn’t reach all the roof with the hose and it was hitting me all over,” he said. “Any time an ember would hit something, it’d start a fire. The wind made it like a blowtorch.”
He finally relented and hitched up his other boat before speeding off the mountain and out of town. At 12:55 a.m. on Nov. 29, Malone posted the following photo to his Facebook page:
At 5:54 p.m. on the 29th, he posted again, this time with images of the aftermath.
When he pulled out of his driveway, Malone had resigned himself to thinking the house may not be there when he returned.
“I really had a good idea it didn’t make it,” he said. “When I left it, I was fighting it off, but it was hard with those embers blowing around.
“One thing that bothered me most was not getting the stuff my wife and daughter wanted out of it, but it got to the point where it was either stuff or our lives.”
The Aftermath
In the week immediately following the fire, the Malones stayed with friends about 45 minutes outside of Gatlinburg, but that put 14-year-old Kaitlyn 40 minutes away from school and made Melissa’s commute to work at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park pretty lengthy. They’ve since relocated to a hotel in Gatlinburg, but Malone was hoping to secure a rental home this week in order to restore some sense of normalcy to their everyday lives.
Malone said he’s been back to the remains of the house several times – he’s accidentally turned down the street thinking he was heading home a few times – but it’s been more about assessing the next steps in the process and looking to recover any mementos that may have survived.
“This past Saturday, we had about 10 or 12 people come help us sift through the remains to find items,” he said. “There was little to be found. Mostly, we were pulling metal out of the foundation so it’s less we have to do later.”
Malone said his homeowner’s insurance should cover everything as far as the house structure goes. Replacing all of the home’s contents, including his array of fishing tackle and equipment, will be a challenge, though.
“I lost every bit of fishing equipment I had since I was changing boats,” he said. “I’d taken everything out of the old one and put it in the house.”
The Malone family is grateful for all of the support they've received since their home was lost to a wildfire last month.
He has already withdrawn from FLW Tour competition for 2017, but hopes to compete in a few FLW Series and Bassmaster Open tournaments. His wife is already asking him when he’s going to start getting ready for the season.
“Just this morning, she was like, ‘You’ve got to start working on replacing your fishing stuff,’” he said. “It’s not a priority of mine, but at the same time, I do look forward to that Okeechobee (FLW Series) event and to get away will mean more to me this year to just get away and release some tension.”
Support From All Angles
When asked what he would say if given the chance to speak to the two teenage suspects being held in connection with starting the fires, Malone declined comment.
He said his family’s faith and the overwhelming support they’ve received from friends, family and sometimes total strangers has helped them through this ordeal.
“Obviously our faith in God and knowing that our family is together,” he said. “That’s a big part of it and just having our family rally together.
“The other thing is the outpouring of support from people I’ve never met before and all the Facebook messages – it’s been amazing. I had a guy drive all the way from Michigan and offered us his camper. The fishing community has been amazing. My sponsors have gone out of their way to help. That’s been a big part of it. It’s very humbling to know that many people will step up and have our backs. I want to personally thank every one individually, but I’m afraid I’d miss some.”
Last weekend, a benefit tournament at Douglas Lake raised nearly $7,000 for those affected by the fires. Malone took time to attend the event, where he posed for pictures and hung out with fellow anglers looking for a welcome and worthy distraction.
Malone, who has a background in home building, hopes to get started on the new house as soon as the rubble from the old foundation is cleared. He hopes to start that process this week or next.
“I’m going to give myself six months,” he said. “A lot will depend on the availability of sub-contractors because they’re going to be in high demand here.”
While this Christmas won’t be spent at home, Malone said his family’s resolve is as strong as it’s ever been in the wake of the fire.
“It won’t be a normal Christmas, but one that has a lot of meaning,” he said. “We have a lot of things to be thankful of. I can tell you this Christmas won’t be ruined by this happening.”
Notable
> A GoFundMe account has been set up for the Malones in order to assist in their recovery efforts.
