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Dallas Firefighter Widow Wants Answers From Department

DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - "Do the right thing." That's the message Jenny Wilson is sending to the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department. "Let us know what happened."

It's been more than 14 months since her husband, Stan Wilson, a veteran Dallas Firefighter, died battling a North Dallas apartment fire.

"I feel there is hesitation, stalling, lack of action by the fire department and it's not right by Stan."

Last week, Wilson's attorney sent a demand letter to Dallas Fire Chief Louie Bright. They're asking why the city has not released the report explaining what went wrong on May 20, 2013.

sized Stanley A. Wilson
DFR firefighter Stanley A. Wilson. (credit: Dallas Fire Rescue)

Looking down at the letter she sent, Wilson's eyes filled with tears as she read it.

"Chief Bright spoke at my husband's funeral and said, 'Stan never hesitated when he went into that building.' Out of respect for Stan, I would hope the Dallas Fire Department would no longer hesitate in releasing the report."

The CBS 11 i-Team has spent more than a year asking questions about possible mistakes. We've obtained exclusive audio from a meeting where firefighters argued over who actually ordered Wilson and others back inside, while ladder pipes pounded the top of the building with water. Firefighters have told us the order should have never been given because the building was so unstable and because the fire had raged for so long. They said no one could have been alive inside.

Jenny Wilson believes the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department needs to make changes before another firefighter is killed.

"Nothing has changed. No change in command, no demotion, no removal… so if the same decisions are made again, other people could get hurt."

No one from the fire department would talk to us on camera, but Lieutenant Joel Lavender sent the following statement:

"The Dallas Fire-Rescue Department (DFR) is in the process of completing an official report into the line-of-duty death (LODD) of Firefighter Stanley Wilson. As with all LODD reports, we have conducted interviews, reviewed raw media footage, constructed time lines and now we are in the process of analyzing the information that will be used to finalize the Stanley Wilson report. At this time, we do not have a date identified for the completion of this report. To maintain the integrity of the LODD report, the department and its members will not comment on this report."

(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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