Today we pause to remember Capt. Alexander Grugan, who died in the line of duty on this date 104 years ago. Shown below is the certificate (preserved in the fire museum’s collection) that was issued to Grugan by the City of Trenton’s Board of Fire Commissioners on March 16, 1892, when they hired Grugan to become a ladderman with Truck 1 of the new paid fire department. (April 4, 1892 was the last day of the volunteer department. At midnight, as the calendar turned to April 5, the paid department took over.) Grugan’s storied career as a Trenton firefighter began in 1880, in the days of the volunteer department, when he joined Washington Hook and Ladder Company. Grugan was one of the men who rescued New Jersey’s Civil War battle flags during the destructive fire at the State House on March 21, 1885. He left his job at Roebling’s wire rod mill to join the paid department upon its creation in 1892. On July 29, 1896, Grugan was elevated to tillerman of Truck 1. A week later, on August 6, 1896, during a general-alarm fire at Trenton Fire Clay and Porcelain Company off Third Street, he suffered crushing injuries and burns when he was caught under the wall that collapsed and killed firefighter Charles Wood. His body pinned by the fallen bricks and with water from the hoseline he had been holding rapidly pooling up around him, Grugan almost drowned before he was dug out of the rubble by his fellow firefighters. Part of Grugan’s left foot had to be amputated and he spent 15 weeks in St. Francis Hospital. After additional recovery at home, he finally returned to work in May 1897. Years later, on May 11, 1905, Grugan suffered head and shoulder injuries when he fell into a repair pit while battling a smoky blaze in the Johnson Trolley Company’s car barn on West Hanover Street. As lieutenant of Truck 1 (his having been promoted in May 1906) Grugan made a dramatic rescue of a woman trapped in a burning West State Street home on November 14, 1910. He was promoted to captain of Chemical 1 on Oct. 23, 1911 and was later placed in charge of the auxiliary engine company. When Truck 3 was organized in July 1913 Grugan was transferred as its commander. Grugan died at St. Francis Hospital on December 13, 1916, one day after he suffered a stroke and was badly injured in a fall while on duty in the quarters of Truck 3. Grugan had been on his way from the second floor when he collapsed and tumbled headfirst down the firehouse stairs. Predeceased by his wife and a daughter, he was survived by three daughters and two grandchildren. Grugan’s exact date of birth is not currently known. He was said to be about 55 years old when he died