Firefighter’s Family Wants Criminal Charges

Joyce Craig

The family of a Philadelphia firefighter killed in the line of duty late last year says it wants to see criminal charges filed in the matter.

Joyce Craig died December 9th while battling a blaze in the basement of housing in the West Oak Lane section of the city. Now, 6ABC reports, a leaked copy of the incident report says her death revealed “real training deficiencies within the Philadelphia Fire Department,” identifying particular problems with response times and ground communications.

The report shows Craig hit her emergency alert Mayday button at 3:02 and again 14 minutes later at 3:16. She wasn’t found until 17 minutes after that first call, trapped in a house filled with smoke and fire.

“The pain is beyond the actual loss,” Mike Craig, Joyce Craig’s brother, said exclusively to Action News Tuesday. “We would like any of those that were flawed in their decision-making or their (failure) to follow procedure — I think it is appropriate that they be brought on criminal charges.”

“There was no one specific incident that caused her death,” Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer told 6ABC. “There were a multitude of incidents.” He said he would elaborate when the fire marshal’s office officially releases its report, expected later this week.

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