I have been reading the USCF Rulebook from cover to cover and can’t find the answer. If a player was one move away from losing decisively and suddenly his opponent undergoes spontaneous combustion, should the TD abort the game (but probably the game will be past ten move pairs), adjudicate, declare a draw, listen closely through the screaming to hear either player say “Resign!”, or wait until a flag falls and award the win to the nonflammable player (providing he has sufficient mating material). I just can’t find the answer anywhere . . . . 
Drown the flaming player with water, stir, then drown again.
(with apologies to Smokey The Bear…)
Looking for the Like Button . . . . Oh, here it is . . . . 
What if there were no hypotheticals? 
There have been several cases of players who had an (ultimately) fatal heart attack at the board in the middle of a game and wound up losing the game on time.
Even with the likely necessity to evacuate the building at least temporarily, I think there are sufficient current rules to deal with this.
Fascinating . . . .
Both the problem and the solution in this hypothetical rest with the TD. The TD must remain calm and think out of the box. Assuming no other intervention, such as the opponent doing a courtesy resignation, the clock must be allowed to wind down on the very faint chance the player makes a substantial recovery. Sometimes a heart attack is not a heart attack. Sometimes it is only an anxiety attack and chess can cause anxiety.
When the flag finally falls, the TD must award the point because it is not the live opponent’s fault. Theoretically the other player could have made a blunder . . . . theoretically.
Next, the TD MUST ADJUDICATE the last position. If it is very clear a monkey would have beaten a master but for the heart attack, the TD must award TWO wins and then explain the situation in the tournament report.
I have seen USCF award two points before. This doesn’t happen very often.
Anyway, that is what I would do if I were TD.
I disagree, this is not a situation where a win-win result is needed. Such situations are rare and almost always involve TD error or irreconcilable facts. Neither of those are the case here.
We’ll agree to disagree. Again, had the heart attack not occurred one outcome was assured. However, the heart attack intervened through no fault of the losing-on-the-board opponent. The clock winds down and the flag falls. Awarding two wins is the only logical solution, but only after prudent adjudication.
Once there was a player who was in a much worse position in a tournament game when his opponent had an epileptic seizure. This opponent lost on time due to having this seizure. The glorious victor even had the grace to claim that it was the stress of having to “defend” the position that brought on his opponent’s seizure. Sometimes I think the antisocial animal post on another forum may be true of lots of chess players and not just USCF ones. I wonder if in the case of the spontaneous combustion how many players would break out the marshmallows and sticks?
Marshmallows go well with schadenfreude.
Really? I found the answer in less than five seconds… 1A so any of the above are possible. But before determining which course of action, the TD would have to sniff the hands of the opponent and all witnesses for accelerants and look for ignition sources. (Not to mention pausing the whole round while using the fire extinguisher or stop-drop-rolling the person.) Darn ungrateful players bursting into flame. But the police/fire who investigate may provide better clues than TD sniffing.
How is the randomness of a heart attack occurring different from the randomness of a finger fehler?
This is an education . . . . ROFLMAO . . . . Marsh mellows . . . . Stress causing seizures . . . . Sniffing hands for accelerates . . . . Touch move (what if the heart attack victim knocked over the board?) . . . .
Anyone else? 
I suppose if there were more than fifteen minutes left it could be ruled a forfeit on the grounds of disinterest in continuing the game…
…for burning too much time.
[size=55]Yes, that was much better than my first try at this.
And while 18G1 requires a poor position, it doesn’t say anything about that being on the board… I surely wouldn’t want to be in the burning player’s position. 
[/size]
Hahahahaha!
Just use some of the ICE you’re Man o’ to douse the flames.
Bill Smythe