John Helm was commentating on Bradford City ’ s game against Lincoln City when the fire broke out and still struggles to listen to his description of that fatal day . Here he gives his insight into what caused the blaze . It was a day I have often tried to forget , but it was the one I must always remember . Approaching the 30th anniversary of the Bradford City fire , it was inevitable I would be asked to recall the horrific images from a match I was commentating on for Yorkshire Television . What I did not expect was for someone to suggest the fire may not have been an accident , as Martin Fletcher has done with his book Fifty-Six , the Story of the Bradford Fire . The tragic fire at Bradford City 's Valley Parade stadium claimed 56 victims and injured 265 on May 11 , 1985 . Martin lost three generations of his family and has a right to speak his mind — any bitterness would be understandable — but from everything I have been told there isn ’ t a jot of evidence to suggest the blaze was caused deliberately . On the contrary , I remember the coroner telling me it was obvious how the fire had started . Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer actually identified a man who had dropped a lit cigarette that went down a hole in the stand and started the fire . This corroborates what I was told at the time by the coroner . He said it was believed the fire had been started by a man , visiting this country from Australia , but his name was never revealed . Without making allegations against the club ’ s chairman at the time Stafford Heginbotham , there is inference by implication in the book — with reference to a series of fires at factories owned by the now deceased Heginbotham . As members of his own family were seated in the stand that day , and as it was due to be demolished anyway 48 hours later , it is unfathomable to think there could have been an act of arson . I find it abhorrent that Stafford Heginbotham ’ s family are being subjected to this unseemly inference at a time when people are still grieving and paying their respects three decades on from the most horrendous day of their lives . There isn ’ t a shred of evidence to suggest anything other than a terrible human tragedy . It should also never be forgotten that Heginbotham twice saved Bradford City from extinction . As son James said to me : ‘ He put that club above everything else , including family and business. ’ A memorial at Valley Parade pays tribute those who died in the devastating blaze almost 30 years ago . We all have our memories of a day that still sends a shudder up my spine . I can not bear to watch the footage . If I hear my voice describing the tragedy as it unfolded I have to leave the room . Many of the 54 Bradford and two Lincoln fans who lost their lives , choked to death with inhalation of fumes . The smell was of acrid tar . As a Bradfordian myself I knew many of those fleeing for their lives , as I attempted to describe the scenes without becoming over-emotional . Thirty years on we try to forget but we must always remember . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article .
John Helm was commentating on the game the day the fire broke out . He gives his insight into what cause the blaze 30 years ago . 'From everything I have been told there isn ’ t a jot of evidence to suggest the blaze was caused deliberately , ' says Helm .