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Never thought this could be said, but it is a good thing there was no game today. During the early afternoon on Saturday, a fire broke out at UF’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
The fire was capture on video and posted on Twitter via an account named Doves Cry Too.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is on Fire. On Stadium Road. #gainesville #uf #florida #gators pic.twitter.com/zn34zVX3QU
— Doves Cry Too (@dovescrytoo) September 12, 2020
The tweet was posted at 3:17 p.m. and already has been retweet over 2,000 times. The first video has been viewed over 300,000 times.
The video depicts a thick cloud of smoke coming from the south end of the stadium adjacent to Stadium Rd. Follow up tweets came shortly after, showing Gainesville Fire Department arriving on the scene.
Fire department has now pulled up pic.twitter.com/3P3tpcKwAg
— Doves Cry Too (@dovescrytoo) September 12, 2020
Other videos showed firemen entering the stadium on the second level from a fire ladder. The streets have been blocked off, and the video showed medical staff preparing a stretcher in case there are any serious injuries.
At 3:45 p.m. the University of Florida’s official twitter account posted that the fire was out and the cause and damage were being assessed.
Fire at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is out, cause and damage being assessed.
— FLORIDA (@UF) September 12, 2020
The Florida Gators official twitter followed up this announcement with a tweet of their own a few minutes later. They claimed the fire was from a maintenance tractor (to clarify what this means: a golf cart exploded).
No structural damage to the facility has been reported.
The fire at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was from a maintenance tractor. The fire is now out and there is no structural damage to the facility. https://t.co/SdWqxrpnld
— Florida Gators (@FloridaGators) September 12, 2020
If the original 2020 Florida Gators football schedule had gone as planned, the Gators would have been hosting the Kentucky Wildcats the day of the fire. Of course, the situation may have been different, but it does lead to a sigh of relief knowing there’s no crowd.
