Off-Duty Philadelphia Firefighter Dies after Triathlon

Veteran Philadelphia firefighter Dennis "Denny" McDaniels, 36, was competing Sunday in a triathlon along the New Jersey shore when he suffered an apparent heart attack.

June 3, 2019

An off-duty Philadelphia firefighter died from an apparent heart attack during a triathlon in New Jersey over the weekend.

Dennis "Denny" McDaniels, 36, was finishing the swimming stretch of Cape May's Escape the Cape Triathlon—it starts with a mile swim, followed by a 23-mile bicycle ride and a five-mile run—when he experienced the medical emergency Sunday morning, KYW-TV reports. About a half hour after the competition began at 8:30 a.m., a triathlon volunteer discovered the unresponsive McDaniels in the water, and he was pulled to a park's beach near the course.

Once on land, McDaniels was taken to Cape Regional Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m. at the hospital, and an autopsy was set for Monday, according to KYW.

McDaniels, a 12-year veteran with the Philadelphia Fire Department, was stationed with Ladder 15 in the city's Frankford neighborhood. Before that, he worked in the South Philadelphia neighborhood, the TV station reports.