Coroner’s report reveals manner and cause of Firefighter Peyton Morse’s death

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - A coroner’s report reveals new information about the manner of death for Watertown Firefighter Peyton Morse.

Morse, 21, suffered a medical emergency during a training exercise gone wrong at the New York State Academy of Fire Science in March.

Officials at the time said Morse had been working with a breathing apparatus when he became unresponsive. Morse was taken to a hospital in a state-owned van, then flown to a Pennsylvania hospital where he had been listed in critical but stable condition. He died just over a week later.

According to Watertown Fire Chief Matthew Timerman, the Coroner’s Office in Bradford County, Pennsylvania says Morse’s cause of death was an anoxic brain injury, cardiac arrest, and consequence of physical exertion from the use of a breathing apparatus.

Timerman says the office found his manner of death to be natural causes.

NIOSH, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, was asked to look at Morse’s breathing apparatus.

Here’s what it said about its findings, “The information obtained during this investigation does not suggest that the components tested contributed to the fatality.”

Back in April, Chief Timerman questioned if Morse had been pushed too far based on data he had retrieved from Morse’s gear.

Despite calls for an investigation into the incident around that same time, the Attorney General’s office decided not to.