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 \u2014 and now the department\u2019s first female lieutenant. \u00a0<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing 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,\u201d she said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Lewis\u2019s grit and focus stems from her background as a student athlete. She played on the basketball team at the now defunct St. Peter\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lewis earned a master\u2019s 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\u2019t her calling. \u00a0<\/p>\n
After learning of vacancies in Long Beach\u2019s firefighting ranks, she chose to begin their interview process. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the back of my head,\u201d she said, \u201cI was like, \u2018I\u2019m destined to be a firefighter.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On March 16, 2021<\/a>, Lewis, Patrick Cunningham and Tyler Rutter were the first three career firefighters \u2014 full-time professionals \u2014 sworn into the Long Beach Fire Department in nearly a decade, and Lewis was the first female in the department\u2019s 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. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great community,\u201d Lewis said of Long Beach. \u201cI\u2019ve just tried to entrench myself in this city by meeting and helping as many people as I can. It\u2019s been great.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n