KNOXVILLE, Tenn — What was supposed to be a fun game day on the water, brought some scary moments for Knoxville boater, Jeff Roth.
Roth, three friends and his dog had spent Friday night on his boat "Chances R" along the Vol Navy dock in anticipation of Saturday's Tennessee game.
Roth said he woke up early that morning feeling hot and noticed his generator was not running. When it wouldn't start, he decided he would go back to sleep and work on it later.
Minutes later, Roth's girlfriend smelled smoke. When she opened the cabin door for some air, she realized the back of the boat was smoking heavily.
Roth saw smoke coming out of the engine, but it still didn't dawn on him how serious it was.
"I opened the hatch and flames bellowed out," Roth said.
The entire group immediately rushed off the boat. Roth ran back on to grab his dog, Oreo.
Soon after, the flames would grow into the iconic picture people saw across social media.
"The picture of that boat fully engulfed and me standing there holding Oreo was probably 30 seconds after we stepped off," Roth said.
Roth said the fire department responded quickly, shooting water from Neyland with a water cannon as well as attacking the flames from the water.
He's counting his blessings and said he is glad everyone was okay.
“You know we got off the boat, my friends got off the boat, my dog got off the boat, no one got hurt. I didn’t lose anything today," Roth said.
Even after the incident, he said he was able to try and find a little humor in what had happened. When crews pulled up the boat, they noticed a YETI cooler tied to the back had survived. When they opened it up, the beer was still cold inside.
The picture of Roth's boat in flames made its rounds as a meme representing Tennessee's game day after the Vol's tough loss to Georgia State.
One picture read 'Chances R..the Vol's season is up in flames'.
"If someone had gotten hurt it would have bothered me," said Roth. "But since they didn’t, I can find humor in it."
Roth had only had the boat since March and is still waiting to learn exactly what caused the fire. He suggests all boat owners to review their safety information so they are prepared for anything.
“I would recommend anyone with a big boat, review any safety gadget on the boat and see if you can get out of there," Roth said. "Seconds mean a big deal, it went up so fast."
