Firemen died after ‘massive escalation’ in blaze

Conditions were so bad that it was not known at first that Alan Bannon, 38, and James Shears, 35, were missing after they were among the first to reach the blaze in the 15-storey building Shirley Towers, Southampton, on April 6 2010.

It was three-quarters of an hour before colleagues could reach the two men, who were found unconscious in the bedroom area of the ninth-floor flat.

Southampton Coroner Keith Wiseman said Mr Bannon was pronounced dead at the scene and Mr Shears died later in Southampton General Hospital.

The inquest at Southampton Civic Centre was told that at about teatime that day resident of Flat 72, Karl Hoffman was vacuum cleaning and placed a curtain in the bowl of an up-lighting lamp. Later his wife Kirsty, who was five months pregnant, turned on the light and the couple, who have a young child, started to smell burning.

By about 8pm the curtain caught fire and Mr Hoffman tried to extinguish it using a soft drink and then his polo shirt. But when the fire became worse the couple fled the flat with their child and a neighbour called 999 at 8.04pm, leading to the block being evacuated.

Mr Bannon and Mr Shears, known by the call-sign Red Two, were the first of two two-man teams to arrive at the property. The other two firefighters, Keith Holland and Liam Ryan, known by the call-sign Red One, were soon beaten back by the increasing strength of the fire and escaped under “considerable physical distress”.

The firefighters wore breathing apparatus because of the smoke and fumes, the inquest heard.

Mr Wiseman said it was several minutes before it was realised that Red Two were trapped because their colleagues believed they had left by another staircase.

“There was a sudden, massive escalation in the fire itself and, in particular, the temperatures,” he said.

“This led to the first two (Red One) to be just able to leave the flat through some stairs in some pain and physical distress. It was initially thought that Red Two had gone back down stairs but there was nothing further the other two men could have done, due to their own levels of physical distress.

“It wasn’t clear that Red Two was missing but after that, strenuous efforts were made to find them. Conditions were so bad they were beaten back for a considerable time... Then access to the two bedrooms was made and the bodies of the two men were found.”

Mr Wiseman said any delay in recovering the two firefighters from the building was unlikely to have made any difference to the tragic outcome.

Mr Wiseman said the jury’s job was to look at the events in context and decide whether procedures were properly followed.

The inquest continues.