CURRITUCK, N.C. (AP) — A volunteer fire chief in Currituck County has died after fighting a blaze.

County spokesman Randall Edwards says Knotts Island Fire Chief Scott Morrison died after responding to a brush fire.

Edwards says the fire had been reported shortly before 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Edwards says the 45-year-old Morrison went into respiratory and cardiac arrest. Emergency personnel treated Morrison on the scene and en route to a hospital, but he died about 5:30 p.m.

Edwards says Morrison had been chief for three years. He had been with the department for 10 years.

An autopsy is planned to determine the cause of death.

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