John Jameson

Mr Jameson - or "JJ" as he became known in the UK's second largest fire service - was as acclaimed for his administrative and political skills as for his courage and leadership on the ground.

A native of Chapelhall in Lanarkshire, John Jameson joined the county's Fire Service in 1965 and five years later moved to Glasgow Fire Service as a station officer in the fire prevention department. Although his abilities had been widely recognised in Lanarkshire and Glasgow, the amalgamation of the old "county" fire services in 1975 to form Strathclyde Fire Brigade provided a much bigger stage for his talents.

The new brigade had the task of protecting 2.3 million people across a 5500 square mile area that included the "tinderbox city" of Glasgow and remote mainland and island communities.

An urgent priority for Strathclyde Fire Brigade was to find a standard radio callout and command system to replace a variety of incompatible systems inherited from the previous fire services. Ayrshire, for instance, was served by three incompatible radio systems. In Oban, firefighters were not called to fires until the police confirmed that a fire was taking place - this protocol delayed the turnout to the fire at the Esplanade Hotel in 1973 in which 10 people died.

In 1979, John Jameson was promoted to Senior Divisional Officer and chosen to head the project team to find a system that would replace what he termed the old "hand knitted" systems. He recommended that the brigade's five control centres be replaced by one state-of-the-art centre. That task was achieved by 1985 when a GBP1.9m control centre was opened in Johnstone in Renfrewshire (this site remains the command and control centre for what is now Strathclyde Fire & Rescue).

John Jameson introduced the concept of heavy rescue vehicles to Strathclyde Fire Brigade following a visit to the USA and Canada as a Churchill Fellow. During his study trip, he discovered that the Fire Department of New York had two specialist rescue units trained in the use of hydraulic equipment to deal with incidents such as building collapses and major road or train accidents.

In 1987 John Jameson was promoted to Deputy Firemaster. The Firemaster at the time, Clive Halliday, asked his new deputy "to go round this brigade and see what is wrong".

What John Jameson found in Argyll was, in his words, "disaster waiting to happen".

A tour of Argyll's volunteer stations revealed a service provided by volunteers equipped only with plastic jackets and construction safety helmets rather than with firefighters' protective clothing and breathing apparatus. Fire stations were often a shed containing a hose and a wartime stirrup pump, and the "fire engine"was the local builder's pickup truck.

Describing this episode recently, John Jameson said: "The Scottish Office was advising us 'Tell the volunteers not to go to fires.' They kept denying volunteers were employees because otherwise, they would have had to spend money to train them."

Strathclyde Fire Brigade believed it was unrealistic to expect volunteers not to step in when they saw a fire or other emergency in their community. Supported by the findings of John Jameson's visit to Argyll, the brigade hired a Queen's Counsel to argue the case that volunteers were indeed employees. The brigade won, and the Scottish Office gave GBP1m to upgrade volunteer stations, equipment and training.

John Jameson's political skills were revealed in the runup to local government reorganisation in 1995. Concerned that the break up of Strathclyde Regional Council would bring with it the break up of the brigade, he lobbied hard against such a move.

Convinced that a return to smaller brigades would result in a less efficient service for the people of Strathclyde, John Jameson made sure that senior brigade officers were on hand at Westminster when discussions around sections of the Local Government (Scotland) Bill relating to the fire service were being debated. The officers provided vital information ensuring that amendments in the interests of the Scottish Fire Service were successfully adopted.

John Jameson was much decorated, receiving the CBE and the Queen's Fire Service Medal for an outstanding career. In 1996 he received the Meritorious Medal from the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department for training services provided by the brigade.

He was particularly proud of being one of several members of Strathclyde Fire Brigade awarded the Regional Council's Bravery Medal for their rescue of people trapped under a collapsed tenement in Glasgow.

That was one of several occasions where John Jameson, now Firemaster, had to don the white helmet of incident commander at major emergencies.

Brian Sweeney, the Chief Officer of Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, said: "John Jameson espoused everything that was good about our Fire Service. Inspirational, challenging and politically skilled, he lifted Strathclyde Fire Brigade up to the highest level."

Mr Jameson is survived by his wife Helen and children Clare and JP.