Catherine Lewis is the first woman professional firefighter in Long Beach. There have been females on the volunteer side of the department.
She felt the personal challenge of taking on a male-dominated industry, "but I always knew it was something that I could do."
Lewis grew up on Staten Island and the FDNY was her dream. However, she found out that Long Beach was hiring after tests.
"Things kind of fell into place," Lewis told Patch. "Once I got the opportunity to get hired here, it was kind of a no-brainer."
After college, Lewis moved to Queens for the last decade. She moved to Long Beach in November after getting hired in March. The fire academy followed for an extensive, four-and-a-half month training in Westchester. She officially started on the job in July 2021.