SUSPECTED arsonists put almost 300 people at risk when they started a fire at a football stadium during a match on Saturday.

Bishop Auckland FC's home game against Penrith was interrupted when the fire alarms went off 20 minutes into the second half.

Club officials Steve Coulthard and Terry Jackson rushed to the scene and discovered a sanitary bin in the disabled toilets was well alight.

The Northern Echo:

Mr Coulthard put out the blaze using two fire extinguishers and spectators, teams and staff were swiftly evacuated from the ground.

When firefighters arrived at Heritage Park minutes later they used specialist fans to clear the building of smoke and confirmed it was safe to return to the game.

Play resumed, with almost all 250 fans staying around to watch the end of the match. Having fought their way back from 3-0 down, Bishop– sitting second in the Ebac Northern League Division One– had pulled the score back to 3-2 when the game was halted but lost 5-3.

Chairman Mr Coulthard said the club's evacuation procedure worked perfectly– partly because it was so well-rehearsed following a similar incident in September 2017 when a fire in the ladies' toilets caused £10,000 of damage.

He said: "It could have been a lot worse. If we didn't have very good fire alarm and system in place it had the potential to be very dangerous.

"Nobody was hurt last time but after that we did improve our alarms and evacuation procedure which, thankfully, worked perfectly and everyone was outside and safe very quickly.

"It also meant there wasn't as much damage caused. The fire brigade are brilliant but because they had to use hoses last time it was messy."

Mr Coulthard said the police have been informed about the incident which club officials believe was started deliberately.

He said four teenagers were seen running away from the ground as the alarm sounded and urged anyone with information to contact the club.

He added: "For this to happen is sickening, 90 per cent of the work done to keep this famous football club going is done voluntarily and now we face a lot of extra time and money to fix this. We will have to look at security and maybe spending £7,000 to £8,000 on CCTV."

He thanked everyone who helped during the incident and apologised to those affected.