On June 16, 2004, following his freshman year, he was hospitalized in an intensive-care unit for smoke inhalation injuries when a house rented by nine Michigan Wolverine players caught fire. Long, sleeping in his bedroom on the second floor of the house, awoke to the sound of fire alarms. He attempted to exit his room through the door, but was forced back by smoke. Long then knocked out the screen of a window and jumped out of the building. Covered in soot, Long had escaped the fire, landing two stories below on a roommate's parked car. Later at the hospital, Long underwent procedures that required tubes be put down his throat to suction black phlegm from his lungs. The tubes also performed Long's breathing while he lay unconscious for the first few days. He was released from the University of Michigan Medical Center and was able to spend Father's Day (June 20) back in Lapeer.