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Five months after on-duty death, heartache persists for firefighter's family

Joyce Craig died with no will, creating child custody and financial dilemmas. Meanwhile, a family attorney plans to sue over air mask problems he says led to her death.

Carol Craig and Michael Craig, Joyce Craig’s mother and brother, explain some of the issues they have faced since her death. (JOSEPH KACZMAREK / FOR THE DAILY NEWS)
Carol Craig and Michael Craig, Joyce Craig’s mother and brother, explain some of the issues they have faced since her death. (JOSEPH KACZMAREK / FOR THE DAILY NEWS)Read more

IN THE DAYS and weeks after Philadelphia firefighter Joyce Craig died battling a hellish basement blaze in West Oak Lane, city officials lined up to promise her grieving family lots of love and support.

Mayor Nutter, standing beside her casket at her Dec. 13 funeral, said: "We care about you. We love you. We're here for you."

Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer added: "What I want you to know is just as Joyce had two families, you have two families - we are here for you. Never forget that."

But five months after her death, some of Craig's family have felt nothing but scorched by the city that vowed her sacrifice would not go unrewarded.

City social workers took her children away from the family the day she died, placing them separately with Joyce Craig's friends, even though several relatives, including their fathers and their grandmother, wanted them, the grandmother Carol Craig told the Daily News this week.

Craig's children, 16-year-old Mekhi Green and 22-month-old Laylani Lewis, haven't gotten full access to the memorial fund the union established to support them, Carol Craig said.

And with three investigations into her death unresolved, the city Medical Examiner's Office still hasn't publicly declared her cause of death nor issued the family a complete death certificate. Without that, the family has been unable to open her estate and get payouts from the line-of-duty death, pension and insurance policies that her children sorely need, Carol Craig said.

"It's pretty plain and simple what's going on: Everything is C.Y.A.: They're in Code Orange, Code Red, Cover Your Ass mode," Joyce's brother Michael Craig, 33, told the People Paper. "There's no humanity in that. There's no morality in that."

One problem is that Joyce Craig died without a will, creating divisive dilemmas over the fate of her children and the money that typically accompanies line-of-duty deaths, insiders say.

So while such raw anger is understandable from a family still reeling from unexpected tragic loss, experts say it takes time for the courts to sort out complicated child custody and financial guardianship issues, especially those involving a fractured family in turmoil.

"Without a will, the state does what I would call its best guess about what will you would like," said Kathy Mandelbaum, a Temple University Beasley School of Law professor who specializes in estate planning and taxation.

She added: "Not having a death certificate yet is very unusual - 99.9 percent of people who die have a death certificate within days. It's typically required to get the process going."

A small bit of relief might come this week: A source told the Daily News Craig's death certificate is expected to be issued by today. Medical Examiner's Office spokesman Jeff Moran couldn't confirm that, saying: "The case is pending further studies and investigation. I have no additional information."

Attorney Thomas Kenny said he plans to file paperwork within the month on Carol Craig's behalf to open her daughter's estate.

"We would welcome the release of the death certificate. It is the first step in the family's journey toward healing," Kenny said.

Later, he plans a product liability lawsuit, saying firefighters have reported problems with new air masks and were not given proper training or fittings to ensure an airtight seal. Further, the hose on Joyce Craig's Scott Air-Pak melted and burned in the fire, Kenny said.

The air packs are self-contained systems that have two hoses - one directly to the wearer's mask and another "buddy breathing hose" that another firefighter in distress can use if their own gear is compromised, sources said. If either hose burns or melts, the air supply from the oxygen canister can be affected, compromising airflow to the firefighter wearing the pack.

"For $20, you can get something at Home Depot to keep your hand safe in the oven. Why can't you make something that keeps firefighters safe?" Kenny asked.

Joe Schulle, president of Local 22, the union representing the city's firefighters and paramedics, said yesterday that his office has fielded "a couple dozen" complaints about ill-fitting masks and is working with fire brass to address the problem.

However, Executive Chief Clifford Gilliam, a fire spokesman, said: "We are not aware of any common complaints regarding our SCBAs [self-contained breathing apparatus]."

Sources have told the Daily News that Joyce Craig, 37, was last seen alive fiddling with her mask in the smoky first floor of the burning rowhouse on Middleton Street near Woolston Avenue. Her firefighting partner that night, Nyree Bright, also said she had so many problems with her breathing apparatus that she handed it to her lieutenant and headed outside to recover, seconds before the basement blaze flashed over into an inferno.

"The family wants answers; that's what they deserve," Kenny told the People Paper.

Tina Deatherage, spokeswoman for Scott Safety, the company that makes the air packs, didn't respond to requests for comment.

Gilliam said the fire marshal's formal report is expected to be done by the end of this month.

The federal National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which probes all firefighter deaths, also is investigating. Its report isn't expected until late summer or fall.

Aside from problems with the breathing apparatus, sources told the Daily News in March that "a perfect storm" of errors contributed to Joyce Craig's death:

*  An inexperienced ladder crew got lost on unfamiliar streets and took 18 minutes to respond.

* The team with whom Craig entered the rowhouse got separated, leaving her alone inside.

* Many of those on the scene were either young or recent transfers.

* No one realized Craig was trapped inside, even though she signaled several maydays, resulting in an 18-minute delay in her rescue.

In a 21-page internal "After Action Report," Deputy Fire Chief Richard Davison wrote that the Middleton fire demonstrated "real training deficiencies within the PFD" and recommended additional "back-to-basics" training, as well as refresher training in fire-ground communications, basement fires, ventilation, maydays and "personnel accountability," or knowing where firefighters are and what they're doing on the fire ground.

Davison also suggested that ending regular station rotations - a controversial policy former Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers adopted two years ago to give new recruits experience in busier stations - "will assist with company continuity."

Gilliam told the Daily News that officials have added "enhanced training programs" since Davison's report, but he did not provide details.

Despite the ongoing investigations, Michael Craig remains skeptical that he and his family will easily learn what systemic failures contributed to his sister's death.

He points to a departmental log in which Davison, referring to his After Action Report, wrote that Deputy Commissioner Jesse Wilson pressured him to "redact . . . some statements in the critique [that] could hurt the city." Davison also wrote that he "respectfully refused." Gilliam this week said that Wilson "never used the word 'redact' during this telephone conversation with Davison."

Meanwhile, Carol and Michael Craig said Laylani was returned to her father's custody in January, although Mekhi remains in the care of one of Joyce Craig's friends.

Relatives said they worry about him losing his mother at such a tumultuous age, especially since he has not gotten needed counseling since his mother's death.

"I want him to stay with me, but he don't want to stay with me. He wants to stay by himself," said Terrence Green of his son, who will turn 17 in two weeks.

Alicia Taylor, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Human Services, said she couldn't comment on Mekhi's and Laylani's custody cases.

Generally, though, social workers try to place children with relatives, first making sure no one in the house has felony convictions or other problems that could disqualify them as fit guardians, Taylor said.

Authorities also consider the child's wishes, she added.

Until guardianship of the children and finances are decided and answers about her death are more forthcoming, Michael Craig said he remains distracted and unable to grieve properly.

He and his sister, the youngest two of Carol Craig's five children, were so close "it was like we were the same person, different genders. That was my best friend," he said, breaking down in sobs.

For Joyce Craig, firefighting was a passion, not just a paycheck, he said.

Like anyone, she would sometimes complain about work, fuming about brownouts - controversial, temporary fire-station closures the city implemented to save money - and other annoyances, Michael Craig said. And she occasionally got banged up during her 11 years on the job, including a finger broken by an errant hose and severe leg burns when she inadvertently knelt in boiling water at a fire scene, he added.

But she never lost her love of firefighting and dreamed of becoming a fire marshal, Michael Craig said.

"She would have raised a stink about all this drama now, hiring every lawyer in the city to get answers," Michael Craig said. "Every colleague of hers I talk to says: 'I don't understand how [her death] could have happened.' We need to [demand answers] for her."

Blog: phillyconfidential.com