GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN... The following appeared in The Herald on January 29, 2008.
 

THOSE who knew John Noble - the firefighter who died yesterday en route to a false alarm - described him as a "real gentleman" and dedicated family man.

The father-of-two, killed when the vehicle carrying him and four others crashed near Tillicoultry in Clackmannanshire, was also something of a high flier in his profession.

Based at Alloa fire station for most of his 22-year career, the firefighter led a course in Russia last summer teaching rescue workers how to deal with road traffic accidents, including extracting victims from crumpled cars.

Following the trip, he said: "Their English was every bit as good as my Russian - which is nil."

Yet, despite having no interpreter on site, Mr Noble, 46, effectively taught using sign language.

When asked during the trip how he communicated a lifesaving technique to non-English speakers, it was a Russian who answered: "One rescuer always knows what the other one is thinking."

Firefighters from a nearby station were yesterday sent to the Tillicoultry crash scene to perform the harrowing task of removing casualties from the site where Mr Noble died and four colleagues were injured - one of them seriously.

The crew had been responding to a call from a primary school after a smoke alarm activated.

Mr Noble had recently returned from a two-week urban search and rescue course in the US.

The training had been devised primarily because of the global terrorist threats in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Completing the course meant the firefighter was among only 22 in the UK certified as structural collapse technicians.

While the dead man's family was last night too upset to talk about the incident, neighbours in Alloa spoke of their shock.

One 75-year-old, who asked not to be named, said: "John was a real gentleman. This is awful, he'll be a big miss."

The man added: "As far as I know, he was well up in his job and doing really well."

Iftakhar Ahmed, a local shopkeeper, said: "He and his family would come in to buy things fairly regularly. He always said hello and seemed friendly. It's very sad."

Ochil MSP Keith Brown said he had met Mr Noble last week at a campaign event for a new bridge crossing.

"Mr Noble was a remarkable man, one of the highest qualified firefighters in the UK and my sympathies go to his family and colleagues," he said.

Eyewitneses at the scene of the crash said several ambulances and an air ambulance were scrambled.

The A91 Stirling to Dollar road was closed as a result of the accident.

A business owner, who witnessed the crash aftermath, said: "We heard an almighty bang and when we looked out the window, we could see that the fire engine had hit a tree at the side of the road.

"It must have been going fast and come off the road.

"There was a lot of damage and within seconds there were police cars on the scene and then a helicopter came in for the injured.

"There are often accidents at this bend, sometimes two or three a week. Something has to be done about it."

Jim Wallace, one of the directors of the rescue service, said: "Mr Noble was an experienced and popular firefighter and individual.

"He will be sadly missed in what is a very small, close-knit organisation. We are devastated."

Fergus Ewing, the minister for community safety, which includes fire services, said: "I was shocked and saddened to hear about this incident.

"It is a tragic reminder of the debt which all of us owe to our fire and rescue professionals."