A firefighter who drowned in Lake Norman while trying to retrieve the body of a lost swimmer died from a gas embolism after running out of air and surfacing too rapidly, according to a report released Thursday by the Iredell County medical examiner.
Bradley Long, 28, of the Sherrills Ford-Terrell Fire and Rescue fire department, died on June 6 after gas bubbles likely blocked an artery during a hurried, emergency ascent, according to the report.
Long was in the water with two other divers from the department for 14 minutes when rescuers monitoring air usage from a boat on the surface signaled them to begin a controlled ascent.
Long, who was 6-foot-1 and 300 pounds and laboring at up to 81 feet deep, was breathing heavily throughout the dive, investigative reports said, causing rapid consumption of the gas in his Scuba tank. He did not ascend when he was low on air, investigators concluded.