Rod LaFountaine is your standard "hard-working family man" who puts in 60 hours a week or more to support his wife and two sons.
He has built a small electrical business in Mukilteo, NW Native Electrical.
But all that was nearly gone in a flash.
A high voltage electrical panel Rod was working on last month arc-flashed, sending 480 volts straight into his body.
The temperature of that split-second flash was estimated by experts at 35,000 degrees -- four times hotter than the surface of the sun.
"I remember being on fire and running outside," Rod said. "I remember waiting for the ambulance and not realizing how bad I was burned."
"When we got to the hospital the doctor came in and told us he shouldn't have survived his wounds," added his tearful wife, Marian.
Rod suffered second and third-degree burns to almost half his body.
Nearly a month in Harborview Medical Center's vaunted Intensive Care Burn Unit and three surgeries later, he's almost ready to go home.
"We're just grateful that he's a miracle," said Marian, "that God gave him a miracle."
Much more uncertainty awaits, however. A full recovery will likely take months.
Rod is the sole breadwinner for his family. Without help, he worries he could lose the business he has built and more.
"There's a point I have to just shut everything off and focus on getting better, but it's really difficult," he said.
Rod's business has contracts it has to honor, and can't afford to lose. He needs to be able to complete those jobs but isn't sure how.
Rod and Marian LaFountaine were high school sweethearts. The couple celebrated their 30th anniversary in June, just before the accident. They volunteer as coaches at their local Boys and Girls Club, sponsor sports teams and help with the homeless.
"These are good people. I know their hearts," said family friend Ivan Tuttle, who set up a Go Fund Me account for the family. "Things can snowball out of control financially pretty fast. This sort of thing could happen to any one of us."
For now, the LaFountaines are leaning on their faith in God to get them through, and Rod, the "hard-working family man," is contemplating his future.
"My priorities need to change," he said. "I can't focus so much on work now. It has to be more family."
