INDIANAPOLIS --
An undetected heart condition killed a Canadian firefighter who collapsed at a firefighters' competition in Indianapolis last week, the Hendricks County coroner said.
Wayne Topping, 48, died of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, coroner Jason Matthews said Tuesday.
Topping, a 10-year firefighter in Burlington, Ontario, collapsed Friday morning, shortly after finishing a drill in which his team extricated someone from a car at the Wayne Township Fire Department's training grounds.
He was taken to Clarian West Hospital in Avon, where he was pronounced dead.
The drill had nothing to do with Topping's death, Matthews said.
Firefighters on Friday said Topping's role in the drill, which happened just before 9 a.m., wasn't strenuous. He was working as a medic, providing care to a mock patient.
The Wayne Township Fire Department said it plans to send a contingent to Topping's funeral, which is set for 1 p.m. Thursday in Burlington.
