A Nebraska firefighter died suddenly over the weekend, hours after battling a grass fire.
Indianola firefighter Donald "Donny" Lepper, 46, collapsed at his home Sunday morning after he had responded to a grass fire the previous afternoon, KLKN-TV reports. He was taken to Community Hospital of McCook, where he was pronounced dead.
"Nick's like, 'Mom, you need to get home now'," Tammy Washa, Lepper's ex-wife, told the TV station. "He just said dad collapsed, and they're taking him to the hospital. They can barely find a pulse."
Washa said she didn't know why Lepper collapsed or what was the cause of death. She added that no autopsy had been performed on him.
"He was at the fire the night before, so within this 24-hour period is when everything happened," Washa told KLKN.
Lepper had been a volunteer firefighter for 23 years, and his son, Andrew, said he was "an active member of the community."
A funeral for Lepper is set for Saturday.
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