THE desperate bid to reach two firemen overcome by heat and trapped unconscious in a blazing tower block flat and the harrowing moment they were finally found and rescued was laid bare at an inquest.

Red Watch colleagues Alan Bannon and Jim Shears were found in the doorways of the bedrooms of the ninth floor flat in Shirley Towers, trapped under heavy cables, almost one hour after they had first gone inside.

Southampton Coroner’s Court heard how there had earlier been repeated desperate attempts to try to find them after they lost contact over the radio and then their breathing apparatus ran out.

Fellow St Mary’s firefighter Richard Sawdon told how he had been sent into Flat 72 as one of two members of an emergency team to tell his four colleagues already inside to get out because of the rising extreme temperature.

He described how conditions were so severe he was forced to lie on the floor of the lounge as he helped pulse water at the blaze in the hope he could then clear the way to get upstairs to his colleagues.

He said; “Our main concern was Jim and Bert, trying to hold the fire back to get access.”

But he only managed to climb a couple of stairs before being beaten back by the heat, the smoke so thick he couldn’t even see his own hand in front of his face mask.

When his own distress alarm sounded on his breathing apparatus he got out, ran outside and dumped the equipment on the grass and found another set before heading back up.

But back inside the flat the conditions were so dangerous, that despite the gravity of the situation he had no choice but to exit.

The inquest heard how retained firefighter Mark Hair, based at Totton, eventually found the two men and pulled them free.

He described how he had gone inside the flat and climbed the stairs towards the upper landing wearing a headlight and detected one of the men in the thick smoke using a thermal imaging camera.

Struggling himself to breathe in the heat, he then felt with his hands and battled to free his colleague from cabling, becoming tangled in it himself as he did so.

He managed to pass the unconscious firefighter down the stairs to another pair of firefighters who were waiting, before going back upstairs to look for the other.

He described how the smoke had cleared slightly and he quickly spotted the missing fireman and again pulled him free.

As he passed him down to the crew below he again became caught up in the cabling which was tangled around his legs, waist and breathing apparatus.

He said it was unlikely it was humanly possible that anyone could break through the cables as they were so heavy.

He told jurors how when he managed to get free he eventually got outside the block and was made to sit down, exhausted by the extreme conditions and physical and mental workload.

The inquest has previously heard that Mr Bannon, 38, of Bitterne, Southampton, and Mr Shears, 35, of Poole, died in a “sudden massive escalation” of the fire.

Proceeding