THOUSANDS of people are expected to attend a memorial service honouring two brave firefighters killed on duty.

James Shears from Oakdale in Poole and his Southampton colleague Alan Bannon died tackling a blaze in a high-rise block of flats on April 6.

Family and friends of both men attended funeral services in April and hundreds of people lined the streets in a show of grief, and more members of the public are expected to join them at Winchester Cathedral on Wednesday July 14.

Earlier the same day a memorial stone will be unveiled at the headquarters of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service in Eastleigh.

It will bear the names of 60 Hampshire-based firefighters who have lost their lives in the last 110 years.

Mr Shears, 35, who lived in Oakdale with his wife, Carla, and children Frankie, five, and four-year-old Ruben, was serving alongside Mr Bannon with Red Watch, based at St Mary’s in Southampton, when tragedy struck.

They were the first pair to enter Shirley Towers in Church Street to tackle a fire in a ninth floor flat and post mortem examinations revealed they both died of exposure to excessive heat.

Police officers, Hampshire Fire and Rescue staff and officers from the Health and Safety Executive are now examining the cause and circumstances of the incident, which took place at 8.15pm.