PORT EVERGLADES, Fla. -- On Monday, friends and relatives said a final farewell to a rookie Miami-Dade firefighter who died during a training exercise. On Tuesday, an autopsy report is released that family members hoped would provide answers to why Wayne Mitchell died.
Instead, the autopsy results are raising more questions.
Mitchell, 37, died on Friday, during his first live fire drill. He had about two weeks left in his training to become a Miami-Dade firefighter, officials said.
Mitchell and four other trainees were conducting an exercise inside the simulator, which is built to resemble a small ship, to learn how to extinguish marine fires, authorities said.
He became separated from the other trainees, as they crawled through thick, dark smoke, wearing heavy equipment. Officials confirmed that the temperature inside the training capsules can reach 1,000 degrees.
Officials said they were not sure why Mitchell became separated from the group. But he failed to make it out of the capsule with the others, and was pronounced dead at Broward General Medical Center after eventually being brought out, authorities said.
The other four trainees suffered minor injuries and were treated and released from local hospitals.
Investigators said it could take another month of extensive testing to determine the exact cause of Mitchell's death.
In a press conference Tuesday, Broward County Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Perper said Mitchell suffered minor burns to his hands and knees, as well as some brain swelling, but that those injuries were not enough to have caused his death.
Perper said investigators would test whether Mitchell inhaled toxic fumes or suffered heat stroke while inside the simulator.
"We don't have extensive burns, we don't have evidence of soot in the airway, we don't have any kind of trauma," Perper said. "We initially have what appears to be a healthy young man."
Perper said his office is also awaiting crucial information such as Mitchell's body temperature, the temperature inside the simulator and the condition of his protective gear.
Several state and local agencies are investigating the incident.
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