THE younger brother of Southampton firefighter Jim Shears, who died battling a tower block blaze last year, has welcomed a new arrival to the family.

Gary Shears is thrilled to be a dad to a bouncing baby boy – and has paid tribute to his heroic brother by naming his new son after him.

Little James David Shears, weighing 5lb 13ozs, was born to Gary and fiancée Jet.

Gary, 29, said: “We found out Jet was pregnant between Jim’s death and his funeral, so we kept it a little bit quiet. We didn’t know how my mum and dad and Carla would take it.”

Carla, Jim’s widow and mother of his two boys, is said to be “thrilled” with Gary and Jet’s decision to name their first child after her husband.

Gary added: “So we left off telling everyone our news at the time, at least for a few days. When we told Mum, Dad and Carla I guess it was a little bit of good news at a horrible time.

“The funny thing was, Jim was always teasing me, saying ‘when are you going to get married? When are you going to have a baby?’ “He was always on our cases. The irony is, Jet would have been pregnant when he was still alive.”

Jim Shears died alongside fellow Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service firefighter Alan Bannon last April.

Fire chief officer John Bonney would go on to say Jim and Alan bought the residents valuable time, enabling a successful evacuation.

All residents of the 15-storey block – including one heavily pregnant woman – were either evacuated or led to safety.

Gary, from Poole, Dorset, said: “It was a big thing naming him James, but obviously we spoke to Carla, Mum and Dad to ask them what they thought about it.

“Carla loved the idea. I was a bit worried asking her but she was really thrilled. She said it was an honour and that meant a lot.

“Mum and Dad think he’s the spitting image of Jim when he was a child. They even brought some pictures around and he does look like him.”

Both mum and baby, who was born at Poole Hospital, are doing well and Gary told the Daily Echo he would one day tell his son all about his big brother.