FIREFIGHTERS are visiting high-rise blocks to give residents safety advice following a tower blaze that killed two firemen.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service say residents may have been left confused about what to do in a fire after the tragedy at Shirley Towers in Southampton.

Firemen James Shears, 35, and Alan Bannon, 38, died tackling a fire in the 15-storey building on April 6.

Information leaflets have been delivered to all high-rise properties in the city as part of an awareness campaign.

Southampton firefighters will be carrying out home safety checks and “familiarisation” visits to high-rise properties over the next few months.

Hightown station manager Mark Raven said: “The purpose of the visits are twofold, firstly to carry out home fire safety visits to all tenants living in high-rise blocks. This is not only to carry out home checks but to advise tenants what to do in the event of a fire in their home or if they are trapped above a fire in their block.

“Secondly, to allow firefighters time to familiarise themselves with the internal layout and construction of our high-rise stock.”

Hampshire firefighters are specially trained to respond to fires in high-rise buildings, and are regularly called out to such fires.

The fire service said tower blocks are designed so that walls, ceilings and doors prevent fire spreading quickly into other flats or corridors.

It said if there is a fire in another part of the building, residents are usually safer staying in their flats.

Firefighters Bannon and Shears, from the St Mary’s Red Watch crew, died after being exposed to excessive heat as they tackled a fire at Shirley Towers that saw 46 flats evacuated.

A fire service and police investigation is continuing into how the fire started and how the men died.