An autopsy has revealed that a North Carolina firefighter who died this summer following a trench rescue had heart disease and high blood pressure.
The Herald Sun reports that Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Holden with the Orange Rural Fire Department in Hillsborough, who was only 32 when he died on Aug. 13, also suffered from a Chiari malformation, an abnormality that affects the area where the brain and spinal cord connect, and other brain-related medical issues.
Although the examination does not directly connect the trench rescue to Holden's death, the findings note that "the conditions of the rescue itself were stressful, strenuous with significant physical exertion, and non-routine in nature."
Holden was found unresponsive in the bathroom at the fire station in Hillsborough after he had gone to take a shower following the rescue.
Orange Rural Fire Chief Jeff Cabe called Holden’s death "devastating."
"We sat down yesterday and tried to think about all he had done," Cabe said at the time. "He touched everything. We’re a small department; we depend on all our folks to do everything that needs to be done even if it doesn’t fit the job description. Jeff was one of those people."
