Gus Felder is almost always first to bed in his house. One of Georgia’s strength and conditioning coaches, he’s usually up before dawn to get to the Butts-Mehre Complex and put the Bulldogs through their paces. But it’s spring break, so Wednesday night Felder decided to sit up and do some reading and watch a little television after his wife and five children went to bed.
That proved to be a providential decision.
Sometime around 11 p.m. or so, Felder started to smell something strange. He thought it smelled like something electrical was on fire. At first he thought it might have been a phone charger or something like that and he went around the house checking the outlets. But as he continued to inspect, he followed the aroma up the stairs of his rented Bogart home toward the bonus room his three youngest children share. In the laundry room one door over, Felder spotted the issue. A small fire was glowing underneath the dryer.
By the time Felder got everybody up and out of the house and located a fire extinguisher – one that didn’t work, unfortunately – it grew into a full-blown blaze. The fire department was called and contained the fire, but not until the laundry room was consumed. The kids’ room sustained major heat, smoke and water damage, as did much of the second floor of the house.
“No one got hurt,” Felder said Thursday morning. “Everybody’s safe now. It’s just the grace of God the way it worked out.”
There were several fortuitous happenstances that helped the Felders avoid disaster. Pennsylvania natives, they had decided to open the windows and the doors to all the bedrooms to take advantage of the moderate temperatures and cool breezes in the area Wednesday night. And he was awake. Otherwise, Felder doesn’t think he would have smelled the fire.
For now, the Feldershave moved in with the family of fellow strength and conditioning assistant John Thomas.
“We’re trying to not be a burden to them,” Felder said. “We’ll try to see if we can get something a little more permanent until we get all this stuff cleaned up and we’re ready to rock and roll again.”
Most of the second floor of the home was damaged and the kids lost all their clothes and toys. The Felders attend Calvary Bible Church in Athens, where UGA football team chaplain Thomas Settles is the senior pastor. The church has established a gofundme account to try to help the Felders deal with relocation and the unexpected expenses. You can click HERE to donate.
In the meantime, Felder is just thankful he was awake and that everybody is fine.
“We’ve always had a little plan for emergencies and that worked out great,” Felder said. “My kids did great, my wife did a great job. So we made it, thank God.”
Felder, 35, joined the Bulldogs’ strength and conditioning staff last year, coming from Clark Atlanta University. He was a four-year letterman as an offensive lineman at Penn State. After a brief NFL career, he coached at high schools and small colleges for several years in the Northeast before coming south.
Felder and his wife Kelly have five children: Destiny, 17; Jazmine, 13; Alexa, 10, EJ, 6; and Faith, 4.
