DALLAS -- Firefighters are supposed to wait for Dallas police before they go into a dangerous situation. It's a new policy.
"Gunshot with victim with shooter in vicinity. Do you see police?” says a dispatcher. Sunday night when firefighters responded to a home near Fair Park, they had a tough decision to make.
They could go inside knowing there might be a shooter in the area or wait for police knowing people needed help. Two people were shot. One of them was 21-year-old Delashon Jefferson. She was eight months pregnant. "They took a gamble because they knew that someone had been shot and needed help and needed help quickly,” said Jim Mcdade, President of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association.
They broke policy and didn't wait for police. "They had to go in there because they knew they could make a difference,” said McDade. Firefighters went in and found Delashon's mother holding her daughter.
"Seeing her laying there, it's bothering me. I'm still looking at her laying on the floor, and I was holding her until the ambulance got there,” said Sharon Jefferson.
Delashon did not survive, but firefighters worked quickly to save her baby. The little girl was delivered by emergency C-section at the hospital. Her grandmother calls her miracle. “Because her mama passed away, and they saved her,” said Jefferson.
They also saved another man in the home. The department implemented a new policy of staging firefighters and waiting for police because back in August a man with a knife chased firefighters during a domestic violence call.
In that case, they had to hold the suspect down while waiting more than 15 minutes for Dallas police to arrive because the department is so short staffed. Many firefighters don't like the new policy saying it goes against the oath they took to save lives.