YOU CAN SUPPORT THEM BY GOING
TO HIS GOFUNDME PAGE.
A SMALL MINNESOTA TOWN IS
MOURNING THE SUDDEN LOSS OF AF
FIREFIGHTER.
40-YEAR-OLD JEFF AS A RULE
MEASURE'S HEART STOPPED AT HIS
HOME.
IT CAME JUST HOURS AFTER THE
HUSBAND AND FATHER TOOK PART IN
A PHYSICALLY CHALLENGING
TRAINING EXERCISE.
ANGELA DAVIS TALKED WITH THE
FIRE CHIEF ABOUT WHY THE LOSS
SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN THE
LINE OF DUTY.
Reporter: THE SADNESS
SURROUNDING THE MAYOR FIRE
DEPARTMENT IS PROFOUND AS THE
COMMUNITY COMES TO TERMS WITH
THE UNEXPECTED DEATH OF A
FIREFIGHTER.
WE GOT DISPATCHED TO HIS
HOUSE FOR A 40-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO
WAS NOT BREATHING.
Reporter: AND HIS HEART WAS
NO LONGER BEATING.
HE HAD APPARENTLY GONE INTO
CARDIAC ARREST.
Reporter: HAS THIS BEEN
PERSONAL TO YOU?
YEAH, IT'S ONE OF MY FAMILY.
Reporter: FIRE CHIEF ROD
METZLE SAID TRAINING EXERCISES
WERE PARTICIPATED IN ON MONDAY
NIGHT.
TRAINING EXERCISES CONSISTS OF
LIFTING PEOPLE AND CARRYING
THEM OUT OF TIGHT SPACES.
WE WERE DOING BACKBOARDING
AND PATIENT CARE AS FAR AS
LOADING THEM ON TO A GURNEY OR
BACKBOARD.
HE DIDN'T SEEM LIKE HE WAS
STRUGGLING.
HE WAS FINE, IN FACT, AFTER OUR
TRAINING OF THAT WE HAD AN
OFFICERS' MEETING THAT HE WAS
AT THAT HE DIDN'T SEEM TO BE
COMPLAINING OF ANYTHING.
Reporter: HOURS AFTER HE
WENT TO BED, HE DIED.
A STATE FIRE OFFICIAL SAYS
BECAUSE HE WENT INTO CARDIAC
ARREST WITHIN 24 HOURS OF
STRENUOUS TRAINING, THAT WAS
OUT OF HIS NORMAL ROUTINE, HIS
DEATH WILL LIKELY BE CLASSIFIED
AS IN THE LINE OF DUTY, MAKING
HIS WIFE AND TWO YOUNG
DAUGHTERS ELIGIBLE FOR STATE
AND FEDERAL SURVIVOR BENEFITS.
BECAUSE OF HIS AGE A MEDICAL
EXAMINER IS PERFORMING AN
AUTOPSY TO DETERMINE THE EXACT
CAUSE OF DEATH.
WE DO KNOW HIS FATHER SURVIVED
A HEART ATTACK A FEW YEARS AGO.
DONATIONS TO THE FAMILY CAN BE
MADE FLEW HOME -- THROUGH HOME
