Plastic surgery for blaze survivors

Press, 14 May 1985, Page 1

Plastic surgery for blaze survivors

NZPA-PA London Five people were still seriously ill yesterday as teams of surgeons began plastic surgery operations on the survivors of Britain’s Bradford football fire disaster.

Meanwhile, the police were continuing the painstaking task of trying to identify the dead. Seventy people are still unaccounted for.

Most were burned beyond recognition. Most were either children or pensioners, too young or too old to escape the inferno.

Fifty-two people are known to have died.

So far, only one, a founder member and a former club chairman, Samuel Firth, aged 86, has been positively identified. He died in hospital. The rest perished at the ground, either dying in their seats or trapped behind the padlocked turnstiles in the 280 deg. C heat generated in four horrorfilled minutes that destroyed the 77-year-old stand.

It could be days before they are finally named, after the police have checked their dental records, and the few trinkets and possessions found in the debris.

An onlooker at the grounds said yesterday he was convinced the fire was caused by something thrown from the crowd.

A special safety investigation will be made of Lancaster Park grandstands this week after the tragedy at Bradford.

The secretary-manager of the Victory Park Board, Mr Charlie Rhodes, said he was happy with fire safety provisions at the park, and an inspection was normally made each year by Fire Service and City Council investigators. However, an extra check would be made as a further precautionary measure.

The Fire Service Wellington regional commander, Derek Varley, said a fire similar to that which had razed Bradford’s stand was

most unlikely in New Zealand.

The Fire Service applied the same licensing checks to grandstands as it did to other places of public assembly.

“We are very mindful of safety precautions,” he said. However, wooden grandstands were notorious for burning quickly

Recent instances in New Zealand were at Palmerston North and Tauherenikau racecourses a few years ago. The stands were not in use at the time.

A few years earlier, the grandstand at Addington Raceway burned down during a race meeting, but noone was injured. Mr Varley said news reports from London had indicated the Bradford stand had contained highly flammable polypropylene seating, whereas most New Zealand stands had only wooden seats, which reduced the risk of fire spreading quickly. Further reports, page 10