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A fatal heart attack felled a Scalp Level-Paint volunteer firefighter who had been training at Cambria County’s fire school, officials said Sunday.
John Polimine, 51, had not been feeling well Saturday and collapsed after an exercise at the East Carroll Township site, Cambria County Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski said.
It is believed to be the first death in more than 55 years of organized fire-training activities in the county.
Kwiatkowski said Polimine participated in rigorous training Saturday morning and “was not feeling too well” afterward.
Polimine then completed a fire-suppression session before he was stricken. He was pronounced dead at 1:13 p.m. Saturday at Miners Medical Center in Hastings.
After an autopsy was performed Sunday, Kwiatkowski said Polimine died from a stress-induced heart attack. Toxicology tests are pending, but the coroner said he does not believe that will have any bearing on the investigation.
Scalp Level-Paint Volunteer Fire Company leaders issued a statement saying Polimine had joined the organization in November 2008.
He is survived by five children, fire officials said. Funeral arrangements were not available Sunday.
Volunteer Fireman’s Association of Cambria County & Vicinity owns the fire school. And a longtime association official said he could not recall any training-related deaths at the site, which was purchased in 1984.
In fact, association Secretary Steve Unger said there have been no such deaths dating back to 1954, when firefighters first congregated to train at the county’s fairgrounds.
The Patton-area fire school is heavily used. Unger said the site, through the end of last year, had been drawing 800 to 1,000 firefighters annually.
Local News
Fire training fatality
Heart attack caused volunteer’s death, coroner determines
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