Southampton coroner Keith Wiseman will make a number of safety recommendations to fire chiefs following the inquest.

He will outline any improvements to procedures after studying all the evidence from the 15-day hearing into how Alan Bannon, 38, and James Shears, 35, died as they battled to control the blaze on the ninth floor of the 15-storey building Shirley Towers in Southampton on April 6, 2010.

It comes after a jury returned a verdict of death due to misadventure.

Speaking of the families of the victims, he said: ''What we have been dealing with here was a situation where their respective husbands went out for a normal shift on a demanding job and failed to come back.

''My sympathies and the jury's and everyone in this room go out to the families as well as best wishes for the future.

''I have been asked by the jury to express their admiration to all those firefighters who dealt with this fire and the heroic efforts made in some cases to make the best result possible although sadly not entirely so.''

The inquest heard Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service had made a number of changes as a result of inquiries into what went wrong.

These included sending six rather than five fire appliances to a high-rise fire, providing in-helmet radio-communication systems and making improvements to the breathing appliances used.