THE families of Alan Bannon and Jim Shears say they want answers about the failings that occurred on the night of the Shirley Towers blaze - and measures put in place to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Relatives of both men - known fondly by their colleagues as Bert and Britney - spoke of a raft of unanswered questions surrounding their deaths, including whether or not they were adequately trained and if safety procedures were followed correctly that night.

The calls come on the day a two week inquest into the deaths opened at Southampton.

Mr Bannon's widow Charlotte - the mother of his daughter Abigail - and Mrs Shears widow Carla, mother of Jim's son's Ruben and Frankie, both wept as family representatives addressed the jury and told them about the two “brave and dedicated” men who lost their lives tackling the blaze more than two years ago.

Gary Shears, speaking on behalf of his brother Jim's widow Carla, said he was a man who only ever wanted to be a firefighter.

Having left university with an honours degree in biochemistry he initially worked as a biochemist but hated being confined to a lab.

After several attempts to join the fire brigade in Dorset he was successful with Hampshire and after tough training was posted to St Marys alongside “a really good bunch of lads”.

Gary described how Jim “fitted in straight away and never looked back” adding that he prided himself on being the fittest person on his watch but outside of work he was a devoted family man who was a hands on dad, sometimes helping out at his sons' school.

His lifelong love was Judo, taking a gold medal twice at the World Firefighting Games and also becoming a coach and treasurer of his local club. His ultimate dream was to one day set up his own club.

Gary said: “Jim's priorities in life were his family, judo and the brigade. Anyone who knew him loved him. He was at the heart of everything we did and our lives will never be the same again without him. He wasn't a Saint and wouldn't want to be portrayed as one but he was our hero in every way.

“We miss Jim enormously and we know that nothing can bring Jim and Alan back, but from this enquiry we as a family would like to see lessons learnt and measures put in place to prevent this tragedy ever happening again.

"We would also like to find out if Jim and his colleague had adequate training and equipment to deal with such complex fires as that of Shirley Towers, this would satisfy a lot of unanswered questions.”