Firefighter Dies On Night He Gets Engaged

July 24 -- On the night of July 3 at a fireworks celebration in New Jersey, a firefighter climbed the ladder of a borrowed fire truck, and used a bullhorn to propose to his girlfriend, who sat in a crowd below.

Thomas Stewart's voice cracked with emotion as he read a prepared speech.

"When I told you to expect the unexpected I wasn't kidding," Stewart said. "I love you with all my heart and hope you feel the same. You're my partner, you're my best friend. You're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. They say there's one person for each of us in this world. And you're that person for me. Dan, will you marry me?"

Danielle Ruggierio, 24, said "yes." As Stewart bent to put the ring on her finger, his knees shook. To Ruggierio, that diamond shone brighter than any fireworks that night, and the celebration continued into the evening, when the couple was sipping champagne at home.

Then, in the morning hours of July 4, the call came in. Despite Ruggierio's protests that she had a "bad feeling" about it, Stewart raced off to fight a house fire in Gloucester City, N.J. where several children were trapped. He never came home.

Surprise Proposal

Stewart and Ruggierio, were together for five years, and everyone said they were a perfect match.

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They met at the tanning salon that Stewart ran before he joined the Gloucester City Fire Department. The couple were best friends and great parents to their 1-year-old baby, Nicholas, but there was one thing missing — a marriage.

During their relationship they had gone back and forth over whether to marry, with Ruggierio at first, not wishing too, then Stewart shying away from the idea. Then, Stewart decided to propose, and came up with a sly plan to do it at the Camden County fireworks show.

Once there, he tried to throw Ruggierio off by acting as though he were annoyed that she, along with their friends and family, had shown up at the event before he had gotten off of work. But he secretly set off to retrieve the borrowed fire ladder.