Edited sentence: A spokesperson denied that the actor had been fired, commenting, "He was brought in to play out a specific storyline" and that he was due to "go out with a bang".Despite the initial upset this caused to his relationship with Sharon, the couple resolved to stay together and marry.He commented, "I found working with fire tough, it was so hot.His death coincided with the exit of another character, Trevor Morgan (Alex Ferns).However, in a plot twist, Tom was killed off in an episode airing to celebrate Halloween in October 2002.I can look after myself but if I've got someone over my shoulder, it's quite freaky.I was well looked after, everybody was there to make sure it went smoothly.In July 2002, following the introduction of a new executive producer, Louise Berridge, it was announced that Tom was being written out of EastEnders.In the episode, Tom rushes in to a house fire to save Trevor who is holding his baby and his ex-wife Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth) hostage, but despite rescuing Mo and the baby, he and Trevor both die in an explosion.It wasn't just that I was in the heat, I also had to carry a baby and Little Mo out.O'Maonlai claimed he cried when filming his character dying, partly due to the exhaustion of the filming and stunt work needed for the scenes.Part of Tom's exit storyline saw the character discovering that he had an inoperable brain tumour