Fire Station 41 Mourns Loss of Firefighter to COVID

A 40-year veteran with Dallas Fire-Rescue died after a long battle with COVID, the department said Thursday.

Sixty-two-year-old David Leos, a Driver Engineer with Station 41, had been battling the virus in Parkland Hospital’s ICU.

Station 41 was, until a tornado struck in 2019, located at Preston Road and Royal Lane. The city has begun the process of rebuilding the station in the same spot.

“This is a tragic loss for our department; especially for his brother, Lieutenant Marty Leos, and Son, Lieutenant David Leos, Jr., who have followed admirably in their brother/father’s footsteps,” DFR said in a statement. “We ask that you keep David’s family, and the department, in your thoughts and prayers and we lean on one another for support during this most challenging time.”

Leos leaves behind a wife and eight children. Family members told WFAA that he had been put on a ventilator more than a month ago, and doctors told them Wednesday that his kidneys were damaged and failing.

“It just isn’t fair. This disease can take someone from a family so unexpectedly,” his sister-in-law Jeane Leos, said.

Leos is Dallas Fire-Rescue’s first member to die from COVID, the department said.

Bethany Erickson

Bethany Erickson, former Digital Editor at People Newspapers, cut her teeth on community journalism, starting in Arkansas. She's taken home a few awards for her writing, including first place for her tornado coverage from the National Newspapers Association's 2020 Better Newspaper Contest, a Gold award for Best Series at the 2018 National Association of Real Estate Editors journalism awards, a 2018 Hugh Aynesworth Award for Editorial Opinion from the Dallas Press Club, and a 2019 award from NAREE for a piece linking Medicaid expansion with housing insecurity. She is a member of the Education Writers Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Real Estate Editors, the News Leaders Association, the News Product Alliance, and the Online News Association. She doesn't like lima beans, black licorice or the word synergy.

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