Thirty years on and thanks to the sterling work conducted by Bradford fire survivor Martin Fletcher, more light was finally shed on the events surrounding a tragedy which claimed 56 lives.
As revealed yesterday in The Guardian, Fletcher's new book (Fifty-Six – The Story of the Bradford Fire) shows a connection between former Bradford City owner Stafford Heginbotham and eight other fires at business owned or associated with him.
Fletcher, who lost a brother, father, uncle and grandfather at Valley Parade on that fateful day in 1985, joined us on Off The Ball to talk about his story and the journey to writing the book.
"There is a sense of liberation, of actually knowing that I can speak freely about what happened that day," he told Ger.
Fletcher also told the harrowing story of the fire and how he escaped the tragedy.
"We were sat seven rows or so from where the fire began and people emptied backwards out of the block under police direction into the rear corridor at the back of the stands," he recalled.
"My uncle said 'get the kids out of here' to my father. My father's response to my brother and I was to go together and he'd help his brother with his father. Then I got to my brother and my brother said 'no' and looked at my Dad and he said 'go on then' and I went on."
Fletcher remembered a scream from a woman saying 'leave me alone, I'm not going' in the corridor at the back of the stands as the pressure built.
He eloquently detailed the confusion in the dark corridors as the fire engulfed as he tried to find a way out.
"I get through to the stairwell, step into the stand and ultimately at that point I was hit by an incredible, venomous heat which was in excess of 800 degrees celsius. The fire's racing across the roof no more than 10 metres away from me, racing across the front stand section. I looked down and that's all I remember until I get to the front of the pitch where basically perhaps they see a 12-year-old kid running through this inferno by himself. They lifted me up and my cap is on fire and a scarf that was smoldering and I feel like I'm having an outer body experience at this point."
You can listen to the full interview via the podcast in which he discusses the aftermath of the fire and how he went about seeking out the facts about that tragic day.
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