The Mountaineer

Bryan Hickman awoke Tuesday morning to some unusual behavior from his cat, Leroy.

Around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, Leroy jumped on Hickman’s bed with an insatiable meow. Hickman said he kept telling the brown and grey tiger cat to leave him alone, but Leroy would not get out of Hickman’s face.

“I followed him down the stairs, thinking he wanted to go outside, but he didn’t want to go out the front door (the door he normally goes out). He went to the back door,” Hickman said.

Since Hickman, owner of Reliable Tree Care, leaves for work later in the morning, Leroy normally does not go outside until around 8 a.m., Hickman said. But on this morning, he was insistent on going out earlier.

“It was too early, but he wouldn’t shut up,” Hickman said. “When I came down the stairs, Leroy ran to the back sliding doors and that’s when I saw the fire.”

Hickman, who lives in a townhouse in Maggie Valley, saw flames spewing from his neighboring duplex building. The 42-year-old quickly jumped into action.

“Of course I was concerned,” he said. “It scared me because the fire was shooting up over the roof. I ran next door to get people out. Thank God for that cat. If he never woke me up, I don’t know if anyone would have gotten out.

“It’s pretty amazing because it was completely out of character with his habits,” Hickman said of his cat. “I think the good man upstairs worked through him.”

Maggie alderman and longtime resident Phil Aldridge, who was asleep in one of the condo units when the fire started, said he laid in bed, tossing, turning and smelling wood-burning smoke for hours before he got up to use the restroom and realized his place was in flames.

“I wasn’t alarmed (by the smell) because my neighbor had been burning wood for heat for a couple of months, and I thought it might have been that,” he said. “But when I got up to use the bathroom around 6:30, I heard a popping noise, like wood in a fireplace crackling. …I heard someone beating on a door, but it wasn’t my door. It was the neighbor’s door. I went outside and my neighbor tells me to get out, my house is on fire. He said his cat woke him up.”

Minutes later, Aldridge saw the flames for himself. Although most of what he owns was going up in smoke, the scene didn’t seem to damper his quick-witted sense of humor.

“I looked through my double sliding glass doors and it was like the sun was sitting right there,” he said. “It was orange and glowing. …I said, ‘now I know nobody is barbecuing this early in the morning.’”

He was right. Maggie Valley Fire Chief Tim Carver said the burning building was a four-unit condo. Three families have been displaced, including Aldridge.

Each unit shared a roof truss, which caught fire, Carver said. One unit was burned completely, and two others, including the condo rented by Aldridge, suffered water and smoke damage. It took about 20 men from Maggie, Jonathan Creek and Waynesville Fire departments to get the fire under control in about 35 minutes and cleaned up in about an hour. There were no personal injuries.

“Really it was good effort by everybody there,” said Carver. “Everybody worked real well together and helped get it taken care of real quick. …The ladder truck helped us tremendously to keep the fire from spreading to other units.”

Authorities with the Haywood County Fire Marshal’s office are still investigating the cause and origin of the fire.

Meanwhile, Aldridge said he’s focusing on the positive side of things. For months, Aldridge, who suffers severe emphysema, has been sleeping on the lower level of his place on a roll away bed, in order to avoid having to climb the steps. Days before the fire, however, he had his daughters make his bed upstairs with the intention of moving back into his bedroom.

“If I had, I wouldn’t be talking to you now,” he said. “The fire was coming through the walls upstairs and the smoke would have killed me.”

Furthermore, while the situation is no less tragic, the timing seems to be working out well for Aldridge who’s been waiting three years for a double lung transplant. Although the operation was prescribed years ago, Aldridge has been waiting for doctors to determine he is ready based upon the percentage of lung function. Days before the fire, Aldridge got the call he’s been waiting for.

About the same time he was displaced from his Maggie home due to the fire, doctors called to let Aldridge know it’s time for him to report to Madison.

“When he told me that it brought tears to my eyes,” he said. “I’ve waited three years to hear those words from doctors saying, ‘I’m ready for you.’”

While Aldridge is still pursuing local options where he may be eligible to have the transplant performed, he is also working to tie up the logistical lose ends in preparation of a move to Madison. Once there, another waiting game will begin, this time waiting for a new pair of lungs.

“It could happen in a week or I could be there six months waiting on the transplant, waiting for that person,” said Aldridge. “It takes a life to save a life … or a donation.”

Meanwhile, Aldridge is living in Stony Creek Motel in Maggie Valley. He’s counting his blessings while he waits to make his next move.

“If I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any at all,” he said. “But I’m still in the picture, so something’s gong on. I’m here for some reason. … I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason.”

Hickman has not always been a cat person. Leroy has only lived with him for two months.

“The lady who lived next door moved to Florida and couldn’t take her cat, so she asked me to adopt him,” Hickman said. “That’s how Leroy came into my life. This is the first time I’ve had a cat and Leroy’s found a permanent home.”

Those wishing to assist with financial donations may contribute to the Phil Aldridge fund at First Baptist Church of Maggie Valley.