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Missed Warnings: The Bradford City Fire will shown on BBC Two on Wednesday at 11:20pm.But I suspect they’ll find nothing of any value.”

I mean I think the police ought to have a look and get the fire authorities to have another look at these previous incidents and report. “There’s absolutely no need for another inquiry. Sir Oliver Popplewell concluded: “It is quite impossible to determine who caused the fire to start indeed it would be grossly unfair to point the finger at any one person.’Ī new book by Martin Fletcher, whose father, brother, uncle and grandfather died in the blaze, has claimed the fire was was one of nine that occurred at businesses owned or linked to the club’s then chairman Stafford Heginbotham.īut Sir Oliver Popplewell, speaking to the BBC, said: “I think the conclusion that this was arson is mistaken. It appeared to be about nine inches below the boards.” Operating out of three fire stations, strategically located in Bradford Township, PA. I bent down and said, ‘Hell, it’s warm down there’. In his own evidence, Mr Brownlie told the inquiry: “I felt my right leg was getting warm. In the meantime, Mr Brownlie ‘emptied about a quarter of a cup of coffee on the fire, which had no effect’, according to the report which was published at the end of the inquiry. He told the inquiry: “I just stood up and somebody said, whether it was me, my nephew or the other lad, ‘Oh there is a fire under there’ and I said, ‘There sure is, I’ll go and get a fire extinguisher’.” Mr Bennett apparently said that although he had been smoking during the match, he did not drop a lit cigarette which could have started the fire. Mr Bennett and Mr Brownlie both gave evidence to the Popplewell Inquiry, describing how they saw the fire break out. Police interviewed Mr Bennett twice, once the day after the disaster and again 10 days later, when Mr Falconer visited the house where he was staying. The two men had travelled from Australia together, and stayed with relatives in Bradford. Police investigators reconstructed the seating area at a police station to work out where each spectator was sitting, and found that Mr Bennett, who was aged around 65 at the time, and his nephew Leslie Brownlie were sat ear the source of the blaze. More than 200 people were taken to hospital, many with terrible injuries.Īn official inquiry into the tragedy, headed by Sir Oliver Popplewell, concluded that it was an accident and was probably started by a spectator dropping a cigarette into rubbish that had accumulated under an old timber stand. The blaze quickly engulfed the stand as Bradford played Lincoln City and claimed the lives of 59 people on May 11, 1985. And this would be weighing on his mind for the rest of his life.” He’d dropped the cigarette that started the fire.” “The truth is, that he dropped a cigarette and he was quite unequivocal about it. Well, we know the tragic result of what happened. The spectator alerted a police officer and Mr Falconer said: “The policeman very quickly started to evacuate the stand. Mr Bennett told officers that he tried to extinguish the fire by pouring coffee onto it but, within minutes, smoke and then flames took hold.