Red watch tribute to Firefighters James Shears and Alan Bannon (From Bournemouth Echo)

Red watch tribute to Firefighters James Shears and Alan Bannon

7:00am Wednesday 14th April 2010 in

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IT was a poignant moment to stop and remember them.

Shoulder to shoulder outside the fire station where they served together, the members of Red Watch stood in silence yesterday.

Standing on parade, they lined up in uniform next to the ever-growing floral shrine left to their friends Alan Bannon and James Shears, who died a week ago.

It was last Tuesday night that firefighters 38-year-old Alan and 35-year-old James, from Poole, lost their lives battling a blaze at Shirley Towers in Southampton.

Both men had gone into the block of flats wearing breathing apparatus and were inside the ninth-floor flat where the fire had broken out when they were somehow overcome.

Despite desperate attempts to resuscitate them both men died. Post-mortems revealed the cause of death was exposure to excessive heat.

Secondary examinations, at the request of the coroner, will be carried out this morning.

Today, as donations and messages of condolence continue to pour in for an appeal launched to help Alan and James’ families, members of Hampshire police and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service were due to line up for a fundraising rugby match.