Having grown up on Staten Island, 34-year-old Catherine Lewis can recall the heroics of first responders who rushed to Lower Manhattan during the Sept. 11 attacks. The act of terrorism became the driving force in her becoming the first female career firefighter in the Long Beach Fire Department — and now the department’s first female lieutenant.
As early as age 9, Lewis dreamed of joining the New York City Fire Department. Her mother, Mary Lewis, was a cousin of the late Stephen Siller, a firefighter who died on 9/11. Hearing his story left an impression on Catherine.
“Knowing his legacy, and just how much his story meant to my family and the community, exposed me to the camaraderie of the firehouse, and knowing that you have people with you,” she said.
Lewis’s grit and focus stems from her background as a student athlete. She played on the basketball team at the now defunct St. Peter’s Girls High School, which won three Staten Island New York State Catholic High School Athletic Association championships as well as a New York Archdiocesan title in 2009. She went on to play at Colgate University, in upstate Hamilton, and graduated in 2014 with a degree in sociology. At that point, Lewis said, she submitted her name to be placed on a waitlist for the FDNY.
Lewis earned a master’s degree in education at Hunter College, and then taught pre-K in Jamaica, Queens, as part of the Teach for America program, which works to reduce educational inequity by placing teaching recruits in under-resourced classrooms. She was grateful for the experience, she said, but knew that it wasn’t her calling.
After learning of vacancies in Long Beach’s firefighting ranks, she chose to begin their interview process.
“In the back of my head,” she said, “I was like, ‘I’m destined to be a firefighter.’”
On March 16, 2021, Lewis, Patrick Cunningham and Tyler Rutter were the first three career firefighters — full-time professionals — sworn into the Long Beach Fire Department in nearly a decade, and Lewis was the first female in the department’s history. She trained at the Career Fire Academy, an 18-week program in Westchester, and, after moving to the East End of Long Beach, attended paramedic school at the Nassau County Fire-Police Emergency Medical Services Academy, in East Meadow.
“It’s a great community,” Lewis said of Long Beach. “I’ve just tried to entrench myself in this city by meeting and helping as many people as I can. It’s been great.”
Before she was hired, she was interviewed by Long Beach Fire Commissioner Scott Kemins, who was chief of the department at the time. Lewis, Kemins said, checked all the boxes.
“She did well on the written test and her agility test,” he recalled. “She was very conscientious throughout the interview process, and had a great personality. She was at the top throughout the interview process.”
These days, Kemins said, when an emergency call comes in, Lewis stays composed, regardless of its nature. In February 2023, she was part of a crew that responded to a fire on West Penn Street. As a pump operator, she helped manage water flow to several hose lines attached to the fire truck, with which firefighters extinguished the flames.
Calls for paramedics are no different. “I’ve seen her operate on serious aided cases, cardiac [patients] and trauma victims, and her EMS skills are excellent,” Kemins said.
Since her promotion, Lewis has been tasked with maintaining a six-person crew and acting as its point person when communicating with chiefs and commissioners. She will also be involved with decision-making on resourcing and safety.
“You are the first line for making sure everyone gets home safe at the end of their tour while also providing the best service to the community,” Lewis said. “It’s a big responsibility that I don’t take lightly.”
As vice president of the Long Beach Professional Fire Fighters Association, she was deeply involved in the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the association that was approved on July 7.
Sam Pinto, the association’s president, helped train Lewis when she became a career firefighter. From day one, Pinto said, she stepped up as a leader at fire scenes, acting more like a veteran than a probationary officer.
“She is incredibly organized and focused,” Pinto wrote in email. “She continues to be a change agent to improve the department and as a union steward supporting her brothers and sister firefighters. With her grit, the job has been blessed to have her.”
When it’s time to respond to a call, Lewis said, she draws strength from knowing that she is serving the community as part of a team — like her days on the basketball court. Looking back on her decision to forgo the FDNY, she knows she made the right career choice.
“There will be times in the grocery store the next day [after a call], or someone whose mother you helped stops you from two years ago to applaud you,” she said. “That doesn’t happen as frequently in the city. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to live here and help the people who live here.”