Charlie Rich and the Fire

In November 1965 Charlie Rich was a 20-year-old student at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, majoring in animal science.  He was living in a dormitory consisting of two houses occupied by young men all belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The building was heated by a coal furnace.  It is thought that perhaps the furnace was overloaded, and that fumes had escaped into the house.  At 2:30 a.m. on the 24th a young man opened a door on the lower level.  A flash fire occurred which rushed up the stairs.  A young returned missionary was standing at the head of the stairs.  He was instantly engulfed in flames.

He dashed into the bedroom where Charlie and three other young men were sound asleep, and yelled for them to get out.  He broke the window, and tumbled out.  They were on the second floor.  Wooden stakes had been placed down on the lawn to protect the grass.  Fortunately he and the others all missed falling on them, but he was severely burned.  He was burned over 40% of his body.  The burns were on his legs, feet, hands, arms, and head.  His fingers had melted, but the parts of his body that had been covered by his temple garment were unscathed.  His recuperation was an horrific ordeal; but interestingly, because of the love and the help and the experiences that he had, he was later able to say that this was "the happiest event of my life."

The other four young men in the room followed him out the window.  All had lesser burns, except Charlie, who was not burned at all.

Charlie remembers nothing about the fire.  He only knows what others told him.  He woke up in the hospital five days later.  He found that he had a severe concussion, that both wrists were in casts, and that he was still leaking spinal fluid out his nose.  His companions told him that he had been the last one out, and that he came out like he was diving into a pool.

Charlie does not know how he got out.  He has always felt that his deceased father was responsible for ejecting him from the burning bedroom.

Charlie was transported to the hospital in Spokane, Washington.  The hospital personnel refrained for two days from putting his wrists in casts because it was thought that he wasn't going to live, and that it would, therefore, be unnecessary.  On the third day they decided that he was possibly going to make it, put his wrists in casts, and kept him hospitalized for 12 days.

The event damaged Charlie's brain and spine, but the only lasting effect from the injuries were that he lost his sense of smell.

Charlie is 76 years old now.  He has his sense of taste, which somewhat compensates for the loss of his sense of smell.  He served a mission in Kentucky and Tennessee, married in the temple, raised five fine children, and yesterday (27 April 2021) became a great grandfather.