A father said his son acted in the best traditions of the fire service when he died vainly trying to save his brother from their blazing home.

Off-duty firefighter Alex Kent, 25, died attempting to rescue brother Philip as fierce flames tore through their family home just before 2.30am on January 8, an inquest heard.

Alex had already fought choking heat and fumes to guide his parents, Richard and Janet, to safety outside as fire enveloped their detached house.

Realising assistant golf shop manager Philip, 23, was still inside, Alex re-entered the inferno to find him in a rear bedroom in Fermor Way, Crowborough.

However, university graduate Alex, a full-time firefighter based at Crowborough for ten months, was overcome by the blaze.

Keen sportsman Alex was brought out first by his firefighting colleagues, who only realised it was his family home while en route from their station.

Both brothers were later pronounced dead from smoke inhalation at the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Struggling to keep his emotions in check, the brothers' father Richard said: "Alexander could have saved himself, he could have got out.

"But he went back in. He acted in the true traditions of the fire service and we are all enormously proud of him."

Mr Kent spoke at the end of a joint inquest into the brothers' deaths in Uckfield on Friday, where accidental death verdicts were recorded for both.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze said: "This was in any view an appalling double tragedy and I expect it will stay in the minds of everyone for a very long time."

The brothers had enjoyed an evening out the night before the tragedy.

Afterwards, the pair returned with a group of friends to the family home where they continued drinking until they went to bed by 1am.

The group had been smoking outside on the patio. The fireplace in the lounge had been covered by a large mesh grill.

Mr Kent told the Uckfield inquest how he was roused in the early hours by Alex. He said: "He was saying the house was on fire.

"My wife and I got out of bed, went into the lobby at first-floor level and I went into Philip's room where I shook him hard but he was deep asleep.

"I said 'The house is on fire' and shook him. He looked at me but he was deeply asleep and I left him. Janet and I went downstairs while Alex was dialling 999.

"He was shouting at us to 'get out, get out'. I really didn't realise that the house was on fire to the extent that it was. I couldn't see flames or smoke or smell anything."

Mr Kent said he grabbed the car keys before he and his wife moved the two cars from the driveway. He then tried to re-enter the house but he was pulled back by neighbour Paul Bailey, a retained fireman.

Mr Kent could hear Alex shouting to Philip to "get up, get up". That was the last he heard from his son.

Mr Kent said: "I was shouting and my wife was shouting, too. I went to the rear of the house and the windows were blowing up under the heat."

Two fire crews reached the blaze within ten minutes, by which time the whole house was engulfed. One firefighter said he had never experienced a blaze of such ferocity in his entire career.

A fire crew attempted to battle through the flames and up the stairs but were beaten back. Meanwhile, other firefighters used ladders to enter the back bedroom.

The first crew found Alex lying face up on the floor under rubble. They managed to lift him out of the window.

He was taken to hospital. Another crew then went into the room and found Philip also lying on the floor. He too was carried from the room but was pronounced dead at the scene.

Firefighter Trevor Funnell, the first fireman into the room, said: "The heat was extreme in the room. I have never experienced anything like it."

Fire investigator Ian Peck, of London-based Forensic Science Service, could not find a definite source of fire but speculated it was triggered by either smoking materials or a naked flame in the lounge.

Police scenes of crime officers, fire and forensic investigators carried out inquiries but ruled out anyone to blame.

After the inquest, Mr Kent reiterated his crusade for domestic sprinklers to be fitted in homes, a call backed by East Sussex fire chiefs.

Alex was the first firefighter to be killed in East Sussex in 25 years.

Alex joined the fire service on November 5, 2001, passed out as a fully-trained recruit on March 4 last year and was posted to Crowborough.

While off-duty in March last year, he helped resuscitate a man aged 91 involved in a road accident on the A22, near Uckfield.

The pensioner died in hospital later but fire chiefs said it was an example of how caring and brave Alex was.