Newly Engaged FireFighter Mourned

The parade of sorrow and firefighting equipment moved here Wednesday for the funeral of a recently engaged firefighter who was one of three killed last Thursday in a blaze that also took the lives of three young girls.

Friends, relatives and several hundred of members of the firefighting fraternity driving about 300 pieces of fire and rescue apparatus from around the country gathered at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church to pay their last respects to Thomas G. Stewart III.

One week before, Stewart, a 31-year-old Gloucester City native, proposed to his longtime girlfriend and the mother of his 1-year-old son Nicholas in front of the crowd gathered to watch the city's Fourth of July fireworks display.

In a close-knit working class town of 11,500, Stewart, a full-time firefighter and entrepreneur who had his own construction firm, was well-known.

The night before he died, his public proposal to Danielle Ruggiero was the talk of the town. The next morning, his death was.

In the predawn hours of the next day, he was among the first of 200 firefighters on the scene at a blaze of a twin house.

A roof collapse killed Stewart, along with Mount Ephraim firefighters James Sylvester and John D. West. Sylvester and West were laid to rest in public funerals earlier this week.

Five-year-old Alexandra Slack and her three-year-old twin sisters Claudia and Colletta also perished in the fire. The girls were to be buried Thursday. Their mother Katia "Tia" Williamson, remained in critical condition Wednesday at Crozer Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pa.

Investigators had not determined a fire cause by Wednesday afternoon, though inspectors wrapped up their work at the scene of the fire four days earlier.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP