Friday, April 1, 1977.

FRONT page news today told how Ewood Park had been saved from a major fire by a mystery caller.

The blaze severely damaged 200 seats at the Blackburn Rovers' ground many of them in the directors' and guest boxes.

Sections of the stand roof, under boarding and timber panelling were also damaged.

And if it had not been for the swift action of a mystery resident living nearby, who raised the alarm, the club could have been facing serious disaster.

But the 20 firemen, who fought the blaze by floodlight, arrived just in time to prevent the flames spreading through the board concourse.

Rovers' secretary John Howarth was trying to find the person who called the fire brigade and present him or her with flowers and free tickets to a first team game.

Four appliances, three from Blackburn and one from Darwen, were called to the scene just before 9pm last night.

This morning, as ground staff began the task of cleaning up, the directors and club officials started to count the cost of the blaze, believed to have been started by an electrical fault.

Mr Howarth pledged no first team fixtures would be affected, although a reserve team fixture, scheduled to be played the following day, was postponed.