Dartmouth said a final farewell to the former fire fighting chief Terry Millman with a guard of honour and a fire engine escort for his last ride through the town.

Mr Millman served as a retained fireman in Dartmouth for 28 years and was the town's station officer in charge of the firefighting team for six years. Today's firefighters formed a guard of honour as Mr Millman's body was carried into a packed St Saviour's Church for last Friday's funeral.

The town's Old Dartmothians – which Mr Millman was a member of – also formed part of the honour guard for the service.

Mr Millman's coffin was escorted to the church by the town fire engine, which was decked in black ribbons.

At the end of the service the fire engine escort headed the funeral cortege around the centre of Dartmouth with its two-tone horns sounding, before heading across the Dart by ferry to travel to Torquay crematorium.

Former Dartmouth station officer Peter Denning – who served with Mr Millman – said: 'He was an excellent fireman. The fire engine escorted the hearse down the front with the two tones on. It was a great tribute to Terry.'

Another former station officer, Barry French, who also attended the service, added: 'Terry was a good fireman and totally dedicated. The funeral cortege did a full circuit of the town headed by the fire engine.

'Terry did 28 years in the fire service which is a big chunk of anyone's life and he gave dedicated service for that amount of time.'

Mr Millman died at his home in Dartmouth on March 12, aged 79. He leaves a daughter, Debbie, and three stepsons, Mark, Adrian and Tony.

He was born in Dartmouth where he went to school before leaving to become a builder mason with R C Pillar and Son.

He was called up for national service in 1953 and ended by stationed in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising.

His town councillor daughter Debbie Morr has told how he was lucky to be alive after he lost a toss with a driver over who was going to drive.

'He lost the toss and another driver went instead of him. He and two other soldiers were killed. He was very lucky,' she said.

He married his first wife Phillipa in 1955. She died in 1979 and he remarried to Margaret in 1985.

He joined the fire service in 1959 when he was 27 and served until he had to retire when he reached 55.

He was among the brave fire fighters who were given the Freedom of Torquay for their part in tackling a blaze on board a Spanish tanker off Torbay called Butaseis in 1979, which was packed with a cargo of 750 tonnes of liquid propane gas.

The volunteer firemen from Dartmouth and other local units had to fight the blaze a mile out at sea through the night in the full knowledge that they could be killed in a massive explosion.

Mr Millman was born in St Saviour's Court in Dartmouth and his family was one of the first to move into one of the newly built houses in Britannia Avenue in 1936.

After leaving R C Pillar he started work with Dartmouth Borough Council in 1970 and then South Hams Council following local government changes in 1974.

He retired from the district council in 1995.

Mrs Morris, who paid tribute to her father as part of the funeral service, said: 'The church was packed. It was lovely and shows a lot of people had a lot of respect for him.

'The town gave him a tremendous send off.'