Ark. firefighter dies unexpectedly at home

By FireRescue1 Staff

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A firefighter died unexpectedly Sunday and was found dead by his wife at their home.

Arkansas Matters reported that North Little Rock Fire Department Eli Staton was found lifeless in the bathroom of his home by his wife, Alli.

"The shower wasn't on and I didn't hear him moving. I didn't hear anything so I went into the bathroom and I found him,” Allie said.

"He had nothing wrong with him, healthy as a horse," she added. "I remember his alarms on his phone going off just constantly because he was supposed to go into the fire department that morning.”

An autopsy, as well as full brain and body scans, provided no answers into what caused Staton’s death.

Staton was an organ donor and will help as many as 150 people.

"I told them to take everything that they could from him because he wouldn't want to leave this place knowing that he didn't give everything that he could,” Allie said. "If there was one thing that he would have wanted to do was leave a legacy when he was gone. You know just to be a giving, Godly, man and that's what he was."

Visitation will be held for Staton Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the East Union Missionary Baptist Church in Hensley, Arkansas, and a funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Friday.