text: The former chairman of Bradford City was linked to eight other fires before the Valley Parade blaze that killed 56, a new book has claimed. Author Martin Fletcher claims the devastating fire was not an accident and has revealed a sequence of other blazes at businesses owned by or associated with Stafford Heginbotham, the club's chairman at the time. After an inquiry, high court judge Mr Justice Popplewell said the fire was not started deliberately and was caused by a discarded cigarette. West Yorkshire police today said in a statement that they would review any fresh evidence surrounding the tragedy. Scroll down for video . Tragedy: The fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade claimed 56 victims and injured 265 on May 11, 1985 . Then-Bradford chairman Heginbotham (left) was linked to eight other fires before the Valley Parade blaze, it has been claimed . Fletcher, a survivor of the blaze, spent 15 years researching the disaster in which his brother Andrew, 11, his father John, 34, his uncle Peter, 32, and his grandfather Eddie, 63, were all killed. He was 12 at the time and after painstaking investigation of public documents has published his findings in his book: 'Fifty-Six – The Story of the Bradford Fire', serialised in The Guardian. The fire broke out near half-time of Bradford's game against Lincoln on May 11, 1985, and was thought to have been started by a spark from a match or a cigarette dropped through a gap in the wooden frame of the main stand on to piles of rubbish which had been collecting for years. Within four minutes the stand was completely ablaze. The fire was thought to have been started by a spark from a match or a cigarette dropped through a gap in the wooden frame of the main stand . The fire broke out near half-time in Bradford's game. Within four minutes the stand was completely ablaze . The fire, in 1985, engulfed the stand within minutes. The 30th anniversary of the incident is approaching . Then-Bradford chairman Stafford Heginbotham (left) with Mr Justice Popplewell in front of the burned stand. The judge said the fire was not started deliberately and was caused by a discarded cigarette . Devastating: The deadly fire broke out near half-time during Bradford's game against Lincoln on May 11, 1985 . A police officer uses his helmet to shield the heat from his face as he runs in front of the burning stand . His research includes claims that Heginbotham, who died in 1995 at the age of 61, had been connected to other fires at business premises over a period of the previous 18 years, which resulted in large insurance claims. The book, published on Thursday, does not make any direct allegations but Mr Fletcher says Heginbotham's history with fires, which he claims resulted in payouts totalling around £27 million in today's terms, warranted further investigation. It was the worst stadium fire in the history of British football and prompted important safety changes in grounds across the land. The final of game of the season should have been a day of celebration for Bradford City. Before kick-off the team were presented with the trophy for winning the Third Division title as 11,076 fans watched on. But instead, May 11, 1985 ended in tragedy as flames engulfed the Main Stand at Valley Parade. The Valley Parade blaze is considered the worst stadium fire in the history of British football and prompted important safety changes in grounds across the land . The fire was noticed at 3.40pm towards the end of the first half and within minutes the stand packed with 4,000 spectators was fully ablaze. The disaster left 56 supporters dead and a further 265 injured. In the years that followed,  new legislation was introduced governing safety at the nation's sports grounds. The tragedy brought about an unprecedented  community spirit in the city, with, among many other initiatives, a fundraising drive for the Burns Unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary. In 2010, on the 25th anniversary, there were an estimated two thousand at the service in the city's Centenary Square but this year there has been such a surge of interest that the club considered moving it to Valley Parade. 'Could any man really be as unlucky as Heginbotham?' wrote Mr Fletcher. 'From standing around with a bunch of kids and onlookers on a Sunday afternoon in May 1967, as his former foam-cushion business went up in flames, to standing on the pitch at Valley Parade 18 years later, making noises about smoke bombs while 56 people perished behind him.' A 12-year-old Martin Fletcher is comforted by his mother Susan in 1985 after the Bradford Fire disaster. He has spent years researching the disaster . survivor looks distraught with his burns visible (left) while another sits in front of a burned out stand . The release of the book coincides with the 30th anniversary of the disaster, with English football set for a minute's silence ahead of all games on April 25, which will be Bradford's closest home fixture to the date and is bound to cause much consternation in the West Yorkshire city. 1: May 1967: fire in Stafford Heginbotham's factory at Cutler Heights Lane . 2: April 1968: fire at Genefoam Ltd, managing director is Heginbotham . 3: August 1970: store-room explosion at Matgoods, founded by Heginbotham . 4: Dec 1971: tenant fire at Castle Mills, Cleckheaton, owned by Heginbotham . 5: August 1977: fire at Yorkshire Knitting Mills, in Heginbotham-owned Douglas Mills building . 6: Dec 1977: fire at Coronet Marketing factory. Coronet a subsidiary of Tebro Toys, owned by Heginbotham . 7: Nov 1977: fire with toxic fumes at his Douglas Mills factory . 8: June 1981: fire in a plastics factory at Douglas Mills . No-one sought accountability for the fire once the official Popplewell Inquiry had recorded its findings following a series of hearings held less than a month after the blaze. But Mr Fletcher started to investigate nine years after the disaster, scouring back-copies of the local paper, The Telegraph and Argus for information. Sir Olive Popplewell told Sky News today that he was not aware of the previous links to fires in 1985. He said they were a 'remarkable coincidence' but that it did not alter his ruling that the tragedy was an 'accident exacerbated by negligence'. He added: 'If we had been aware of these fires at the time of course they would have demanded further investigation, but I am not sure what they would have revealed.' Former sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe said today that the new allegations do not justify a new inquiry in to the disaster. Mr Sutcliffe, MP for Bradford South and deputy leader of Bradford City council at the time of the tragedy, says he knew Heginbotham 'flew by the seat of his pants' in terms of the finances of the club but remains convinced by the conclusion of the inquiry by high court judge Mr Justice Popplewell that the fire was an accident. Prime minister Margaret Thatcher visits the scene of the disaster with her husband Dennis in 1985 . Tributes were paid to the 56 who were killed by the fire on the same day Bradford should have been celebrating . The remains of the stand at Bradford's ground after the disaster on Saturday May 11, 1985 at Valley Parade . His many businesses included toy company Tebro Toys. He once described football as 'the opera of the people'. After an initial spell as Bradford chairman, he came back in 1983 when he and another local businessman, Jack Tordoff, saved Bradford from the receivers, buying the club for around £30,000 each. Heginbotham resigned as chairman in 1988 due to ill health. He died on April 21 1995 after a heart transplant. He was 61. Mr Sutcliffe told Press Association Sport: 'The inquiry by Mr Justice Popplewell concluded that it was caused by a discarded cigarette in what was an old wooden stand and I have not heard anything to convince me that that was not the case. 'Stafford Heginbotham was one of those football club chairmen of which there were many at the time who flew by the seat of his pants. I was deputy leader of the city council at the time and he did fly by the seat of his pants when it came to paying the bill for the police and so on. 'But I think the inquiry was very thorough at the time and I don't think there needs to be another because of this. I do not believe there was any sort of cover-up and in fact the inquiry led to a lot of recommendations on stadiums that together with the Taylor report came up with the right answers for football. Mr Fletcher started to investigate after a conversation with his mother nine years after the disaster, when she told him it had not been Heginbotham's first fire . The charred remains of a Bradford programme from the day of the fire in which 56 people were killed . 'There will always be speculation but I just think it was a tragedy that cost the lives of 56 people and injured many more, and has scarred the city for many years.' Author Martin Fletcher writes about his own experience at the Bradford Disaster, and asks why chairman Stafford Heginbotham was not investigated: . 'Why was it left to the 12-year-old who lost three generations and four members of his family, who was with over 40 people when they died within a 10-yard radius of him, who somehow got out of the stand, as the last person to get out, the only person to get out the front after being at the back, and the only person to survive the smoke?' Heginbotham's son, James, 47, told the Daily Mirror today: 'When you actually do your homework and see what he did for Bradford City Football Club it is a sickening accusation. It is just absolutely ridiculous. 'He never recovered from the fire. The stress of it is what killed him eventually. It was a shock hearing this today, it was such a long time ago. 'He's no longer here to defend himself. It's a real shame it has come to this. 'He devoted his entire life to that club. He saved the club on two separate occasions. 'I have never seen anybody more passionate about anything than he was about that club.' According to the Independent, it would be up to Home Secretary Theresa May to order a new inquiry but this would not be unlikely to happen before the election next month.
target: Author Martin Fletcher claims the devastating blaze was not an accident .
  Book reveals fires at other businesses owned by or associated with then club chairman Stafford Heginbotham .
  Mr Fletcher, a survivor of the blaze, says his findings warrant investigation .
  An inquiry into fire found it was an accident caused by discarded cigarette .
  West Yorkshire Police will consider any fresh evidence that comes to light .