Philadelphia Firefighter Joyce Craig-Lewis killed during basement fire – radio traffic from incident
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Philadelphia Firefighter Joyce Craig-Lewis died early this morning during a basement fire in the 1600 block of Middleton Street. She was a 36-year-old, 11-year veteran of the department assigned to Engine 64.
Philadelphia city officials have identified the female firefighter killed in a blaze early Tuesday morning in West Oak Lane.
Joyce Craig Lewis, 36, was an 11-year veteran and is the Philadelphia Fire Department’s first female firefighter to be killed in the line of duty.
She was married with a teenage son and 16-month-old daughter.
Officials say she died during the rescue of an elderly woman. That resident was rescued from the home and is staying with neighbors.
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Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer said no flames were showing when fire companies first arrived at the scene. Crews then discovered the blaze was in the basement.
“Basement fires are very challenging by nature because of their location,” he said. Descending into the fire and smoke is like “running down into a chimney.”
After confronting heavy heat and smoke conditions, crews decided to switch tactics, he said. The fallen firefighter became trapped “in the process of withdrawing from the basement,” he said.
Officials said they were still trying to figure out what happened as the firefighter tried to escape and why she couldn’t get out of the home.
“She was trying to extinguish that fire,” Sawyer said, but precise details about what she was doing weren’t known. All of the other firefighters who initially entered the house were able to get out.
Early Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Nutter identified the fallen hero as 36-year-old Joyce Craig-Lewis, a decorated firefighter and Philadelphia native. She was a mother of two.
She was one of 150 women serving in the Philadelphia Fire Department.
This morning, Mayor Nutter and Fire Commissioner Sawyer spoke from Einstein Medical Center, where they announced that Craig-Lewis was the first female firefighter to die in the line of duty in Philadelphia history.
Craig-Lewis was an 11-year veteran of the Fire Department, and was extremely hard working.
She had been battling the fire with Engine 64 this morning.
