A city weeps; RecordView.

THE respect which the public have for our firefighters was clear to see yesterday at the funeral of Ewan Williamson.

He lost his life saving others and, despite driving rain, 15,000 people lined the route to pay their final respects as his body was borne on a fire engine through the streets of Edinburgh.

The crowds waited by the roadside to bid farewell to a man they did not know.

But what they did know was that they could have counted on Ewan Williamson, along with the rest of the colleagues, in an emergency.

His colleagues from Green Watch and the rest of the Tollcross station along with firefighters from throughout Edinburgh, Scotland and the UK joined Ewan's family.

They were all too acutely aware of the fact that sometimes they run terrible risks in pursuit of their chosen profession.

Unlike most people, when they go to work, these brave men and women put their lives on the line and run the risk of staring death in the face.

The vast majority live to tell the tale.

But some, like Ewan, pay the ultimate price. He died on behalf of the people of Edinburgh. And so it was fitting that the capital's first citizen, Lord Provost George Grubb, led tributes on behalf of a grateful city.