Walker pleaded guilty in October to third-degree murder, aggravated assault by vehicle and reckless endangerment. Authorities said she drove onto the shoulder and swerved into Royds, two other firefighters and a state police trooper who were responding to a 3 a.m. crash on the side of the highway.
Jacquelyn Walker, 64, has been sentenced up to 24 years in a car crash that killed one firefighter in Pennsylvania.
Judge William Carpenter said Walker showed little remorse for what he called the "malicious conduct" of driving her 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee in severe disrepair with faulty brakes.
Walker tearfully apologized to friends and relatives of the victim, saying she never intended to hurt anyone.
"I’m not trying to make this devastating accident any softer; my only wish is to have Tom Royds’ family not hate me any longer," she said. "I’m truly sorry."
Authorities said Walker told investigators she left home hours before heading for a Quakertown mall but got lost trying to get home and had been pulled over three times by police from different departments. She said she drove onto the shoulder to try to avoid firetrucks she said she noticed only "at the last second."