HOPKINTON — A volunteer firefighter with the Moosup Fire Department in Plainfield, Conn., died Monday night of injuries he suffered when his motor scooter hit a deer on Route 138 Sunday.

Alan J. Smith, 41, and several friends in a motor scooter club were riding to Narragansett Sunday morning when a deer bolted from the woods and hit the scooter he was operating, Moosup Deputy Fire Chief Paul Yellen said Tuesday morning.

The accident happened around 11:05 a.m. Sunday in a section of Route 138 west of Route 3, according to the Hopkinton police. A passenger on Smith’s scooter, Elizabeth Millhouse, was discharged from Rhode Island Hospital Monday, according to hospital spokeswoman Jill Reuter.

Smith had moved to Moosup, which is a village in Plainfield, from Rhode Island about five to eight years ago, Yellen said. He had been a firefighter in western Coventry before moving and joining the Moosup Department, which is an all-volunteer department with about 38 members.

He worked as a mechanical engineer for a company called Liquid Air, Yellen said. A skilled mechanic, Smith has always been helpful around the fire station when mechanical issues arise with the trucks and electronic equipment.

Also a “very, very skilled” emergency medical technician, Smith was one of the lead firefighters Saturday going into a house fire in a neighboring village, Yellen said.

Most of the volunteer firefighters who work with Smith were stunned Monday to learn of his accident at their monthly fire meeting, Yellen said. “This is one of those accidents where he and his friends were doing something that was so totally normal,” Yellen said. “No different than walking down the street to get a cup of coffee. No different than driving to the store — just a perfectly normal activity. Then, out of no fault of his or his other friends, this tragedy strikes. It’s very hard for us to comprehend.”

kbramson@projo.com