The first female Philadelphia firefighter killed in the line of duty will be laid to rest in the city this weekend during a public service.
A service for Joyce Craig will begin 10 a.m. Saturday at Batchelor Brothers Funeral Services on North Broad Street. Interment will follow at Ivy Hill Cemetery.
Viewings for the 36-year-old mother of two will be held at the funeral home from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday and to 10 a.m. Saturday.
All services will be open to the public, according to firefighters.
Craig died Tuesday after she became trapped in the basement of a burning row home where an elderly woman was later rescued.
About 50 people attended a candlelight vigil for Craig outside her firehouse Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Corbett ordered all flags in Pennsylvania to be lowered to half-staff to honor Craig-Lewis.
Inside Engine 64 firefighters placed flowers, candles and photographs on the 11-year veteran's locker.
“She was a firefighter’s firefighter," her boss, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer, said Tuesday. “She had a strong work ethic. She prided herself in working at busy engine companies," he said.
Craig left behind her two children — 16-month-old Laylani Lewis and 16-year-old Mehki Donte Green.
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The fire union said donations can be made payable to the "Local 22 Joyce Craig-Lewis Memorial Fund" and mailed to 901 Arch St., Philadelphia, 19107. It said all money raised will go directly to support her children.
More than 40 Philadelphia firefighters have been killed in the line of duty since 1943, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters. The last, Capt. Michael Goodwin, died April 6, 2013, in a roof collapse while battling a fire in the city's Queen Village section.
Women account for relatively few firefighter deaths nationally — 29 of the 1,059 on-duty deaths recorded by the U.S. Fire Administration between 2003 and 2012 — in part because they are still vastly outnumbered by men on department rosters.
