", "If the inquiry is opened again, we will await to see what evidence there is to prove is wasn't an accident," he says. "I saw people die in the stand - but it was only until then that I realised the scale of it.".
Bradford City stadium fire: Police identify man who 'dropped the The Bradford City Stadium Fire 1985 - The Football Inferno Wildman: "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. The inquiry had found that the club had been warned that the accumulation of rubbish beneath the stands was a fire risk. [36], In 2010, Susan Fletcher's son and survivor of the Bradford City fire (and witness to the Hillsborough disaster), Martin Fletcher, openly criticised the club's hierarchy at the time of the fire and the subsequent investigation. England won the re-match 64.
**The Bradford City Stadium Tragedy** - Firehouse Bradford City had just won the Third Division Championship and a record number of spectators over 11,000 had turned out to see the club presented with its first piece of league silverware in 56 years. Saturday began for the fans in a carnival atmosphere at Bradford 's Valley Parade ground a short walk from the city centre. The game was goalless after 40 minutes when play was stopped. Hendrie: "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. Earlier this year, Town gave up working in construction to pursue painting full-time through his business Stadium Portraits. 'It is the worst day in my life. The main stand at Valley Parade burned down after what was thought to be a dropped cigarette led to flames which engulfed the entire wooden structure. 1908 - Collinwood school fire, in Collinwood, Ohio (soon absorbed by Cleveland ), on March 4, killed 175. The heat inside the stand literally ignited people where they stood. The blaze, at the Happy Land Social Club in the Bronx, killed 87 people, the . The match between Bradford City and Lincoln City, the final game of that season, had started in a celebratory atmosphere with the home team receiving the Third Division championship trophy.
It was later established that the blaze was caused by a fan who went to put his cigarette out but dropped it between the floorboards onto a pile of rubbish that had been building up below. The local council was deemed to be one third responsible. One letter from the council said the problems "should be rectified as soon as possible"; a second said: "A carelessly discarded cigarette could give rise to a fire risk." ", Hendrie: "The players were told to go to the pub at the top of the road, we didn't know at this point if anyone had been killed. Treatment of casualties and Burns Research Unit, Dramatisations, documentaries and published works, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council, Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of accidents and disasters by death toll, List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll, "Hideous images linger after carnage of 'celebration' day", "Caught in Time: Bradford City win the Third Division, 1985", "EXCLUSIVE: Bradford's Valley Parade fire must be remembered like Hillsborough", "History of The Bradford Sling The Bradford Sling", "Bradford City football stadium blaze surgeon honoured", "Research centre to be living memorial to Bradford City FC fire disaster", "The Papers of the Popplewell Inquiry into Crowd Safety at Sports Grounds", "Popplewell Inquiry Bradford City Fire", "Bradford remembered: The unheeded warnings that led to tragedy", Joseph Canley summing up statement from test case court transcripts, Newspaper report from Sport and the Law April 21st 1989, "The Glasgow Herald Google News Archive Search", Los Angeles Times report on Bradford City test case findings, Court transcript from the test case brought by Susan Fletcher and Others against Bradford City and Others, "Bradford fire survivor attacks judge over Hillsborough comments", "The Story of the Bradford Fire: 'could any man really be as unlucky as Stafford Heginbotham? Fire disaster at football match (Bradford City stadium fire) - YouTube Sign in to confirm your age 0:00 / 5:23 Sign in to confirm your age This video may be inappropriate for some users.. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. They were immediately promoted back to the Football League in 1988, and survived for 23 years before being relegated again in 2011. "All I could see was eerie white lights that the fire brigade had set up and the smoke still in the sky.
The Great Fire of London, 1212 | Sky HISTORY TV Channel People had walked through turnstiles and along a wooden corridor before descending the steps into their seats. You may notice some big changes in Black Rock City this year. And the black and twisted skeleton of the burnt stand stood out in the night. "We couldn't run back down the tunnel. "One of my most haunting images was being on the bus home after dark and going past Valley Parade. "[55], Adams also went on to state that "I have read in some newspapers that he is being berated for his campaign to have a new inquiry. "I want the truth to be out, the myths to be broken, so that I can get on with my life rather than knowing this information and having to live with this information. After its renovation in 1990 they named the home end of their ground the 'Stacey-West Stand', in honour of Bill Stacey and Jim West, the two Lincoln City supporters who were amongst the 56 to die at Bradford. "The players were told to go to the pub at the top of the road, we didn't know at this point if anyone had been killed. The other, situated by the main entrance, was donated by the club after its 7.5million (13million today) rebuilding of the original main stand in 2002. "[37], Fletcher subsequently published a book in 2015, Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire which revealed a history of fires at businesses owned by the Bradford City chairman Stafford Heginbotham. I rolled over on my head, jumped up and ran off.". On 11 May 1985 a fire erupted in the midst of a third-division tie between Bradford City and Lincoln City at Valley Parade, killing 54 home supporters and two Lincoln fans. [46], In 2014, the theatre company Funny You Should Ask (FYSA) premiered their heartfelt tribute to the 56 people who died at the fire.
Bradford City stadium fire: Remembering the 56 who died at Valley - IBT "[27], After controversial comments made by Popplewell about the Hillsborough Disaster, Fletcher raised further concerns about the events following the fire saying that "I have many unanswered questions still about the fire in which four of my family died, as does my mother. The Bradford City stadium fire was the worst fire disaster in the history of football.. [47] Scriptwriters of the play spent hours with the survivors and victims families. Steel was to be installed in the roof,[8] and the wooden terracing was to be replaced with concrete. The plastic surgeon who treated the injuries of over 200, Professor David Sharpe, went on to set up a world-renowned burns research facility at the University of Bradford. Heginbotham died in 1995, aged 61, and was never prosecuted for the stadium fire, despite the coroner later saying he had given serious consideration to bringing a charge of manslaughter as the club had failed to act on three separate warnings about a potential fire risk. The fire brigade arrived at the ground four minutes after they were initially alerted. Nigel Adams who worked for 12 years as a fire investigator with a British fire service was spurred on by the book to join the call for a fresh inquiry, stating that Fletcher's book was "one of the best accounts of a fire, as seen from a victim's point of view, and as a piece of investigative writing, I have ever read". All existing grandstands deemed fire risks were faced with immediate closure. "I was operated on every other day because I had so many burns and so many areas to work on. "[59], Raymond Falconer's reliability had previously been questioned by Daniel Taylor in The Guardian who stated that: "The Bradford Telegraph and Argus described him as a 'top detective'. People pushed him to the ground and tried to smother the flames. I ran to the stand and tried to help people escape. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. 527 votes, 98 comments. The match, Bradford against Lincoln, was to have been a joyous climax to the club winning the Third Division championship and being promoted to the Second Division. She was hysterical and trying to find her three children. Police had an official photographer at the game, watching for crowd disturbance. For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford.
The Bradford city stadium fire. 56 people died when a - reddit [3] It included a main stand which seated 5,300fans, and had room for a further 7,000 standing spectators in the paddock in front. [6] 1908 - Parker Building, New York City, January 10. "We stayed in the pub for hours. The man we see at 7:50 walking out onto the pitch on fire was a retired mill worker. Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground. He lit a cigarette and when it was coming to an end he put it down on to the floorboard and tried to put his foot on it to put it out. The smoke was choking. Pendleton: "I got pushed down to the front and I remember looking around and suddenly this smouldering, small fire had taken over virtually half a block and was starting to hit the roof. "[28], West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council was found to have failed in its duty under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. However, there is a lot in this book that troubles me about the science, or lack of it, used in the testing of the investigators' hypothesis as to the source of the ignition. Mr Tony Delahunte, who was presenting a programme from the ground for Pennine Radio, said 'The fire seemed to me to start with a smoke bomb. Last edited: May 11, 2021 May 11, 2019 #2 JohnnyKills Full Member Joined Jan 8, 2016 Messages 6,902 Yeah footage is horrendous isn't it. This day was for them. BurningMan.NYC will announce the dates and process for the 2023 grant cycle on this site & all BurningMan.NYC social channels in early Spring. "The scene when I arrived was horrendous. Edited by BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko. "It is hard to imagine how Martin and his mother have managed to cope over the last 30 years and we have always respected him," Harrison says. Eight fires in the 18 years before the Bradford City fire were identified, many catastrophic and leading to large insurance payouts. It wasn't just something that happened in the past.". "We went out on to the pitch and I could see so many happy faces. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. [31] In 1988, the first compensation payments were made to survivors of the fire, with over 40 people receiving up to 40,000 each. Parents and children were laughing and joking with the police as the preliminaries to the game began. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. But all the people being treated, we formed a family, a bond.". Fire on Upper Castle Street, Bradford Yorkshire Evening Post On This Day 1985: The Bradford City Fire 0:15 Bradford Mill fire 24:43 The Bradford Fire 0:26 Large fire in Bradford Yorkshire Evening Post Bradford Mill fire 0:34 Bradford Great Horton Mill fire 0:10 Fire at Bradford school (video: Glynn Beck) 4:05 bradford city fc fire 1985 The scene in there was one of silence and shock. "Then we ran out in our tracksuits each holding a massive card with a letter.
In those days there was a lot of hooliganism and violence, so my initial thought was: 'I hope it has not kicked off - that's the last thing we need'. Coach Terry Yorath described the events as "the worst day in my life. Someone came in and shouted: 'Get out, get out there's a fire'. The Bradford way was keep it to ourselves - it worked collectively that we did that. All that was left of the main stand were rows of bare steel and stone, with blackened timbers hanging from the few remaining roof supports. [8], The Bradford City matchday squad of players and staff consisted of Terry Yorath, Trevor Cherry, Chris Withe, Don Goodman, Eric McManus, Tony Clegg, John Hawley, Dave Evans, Bryan Edwards, John Hendrie, Mark Ellis, Stuart McCall, Peter Jackson, Bobby Campbell, Martin Singleton and Greg Abbott. "It is the little things that show how much people are still involved the fire still has a big impact on people. After 40 minutes of the first half, fans had begun to complain about the drab match and the 0-0 score. The Man burns on September 02, 2023. Lincoln City suffered two successive relegations, first to the Fourth Division in 1986, and again in 1987, becoming the first team to be automatically relegated from the Football League itself. I had no idea. "Many people still don't want to talk about the disaster. [15] They included three who tried to escape through the toilets, 27 who were found by exit K and turnstiles 6 to 9 at the rear centre of the stand, and two elderly people who had died in their seats. The club's success had swollen the crowd to 10,000 and arguments will rage about fire precautions at the ground. Valley Parade re-opened on 14 December 1986, when Bradford City beat an England XI 21 in a friendly. The horrific scenes of people burning alive seemed to live on in an eerie silence as daylight broke over the remains of Bradford City Football Club's ground yesterday. 'The fire just spread along the length of the stand in seconds. "I got stuck against the wall with the weight of people behind me trying to get over. Copyright 2023 IBTimes UK. More than 250 others were injured in one of the biggest disasters at a British football ground. Ironically, off-duty firemen were at the ground selling raffle tickets for a charity football match which should have been held yesterday. 48,785 Location Lake Jonathan Creek The footage never gets any less shocking. He was completely on fire and it looked as though he simply did not know what had happened to him.'.
Bradford fire 11.5.1985.mpg - video Dailymotion An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. While Valley Parade was re-developed, Bradford City played games at various neighbouring grounds: Elland Road, Leeds; Leeds Road, Huddersfield; and Odsal Stadium, Bradford. "Until I arrived home my mum and my brother had no idea whether I was alive or dead.
Survival Guide 2022 It was unprecedented.". 1908 - Rhoads Opera House fire, Boyertown, Pennsylvania, killed 170. We didn't know how serious it was.". It is impossible so far to be accurate about the precise cause of the fire, with grossly conflicting reports from witnesses. Bradford City initially prospered in the Second Division only missing out on promotion to the First Division in 1988 after failing to beat Ipswich Town at home on the final day of their first full season back at Valley Parade. I remember trying to make sense of what was going on. The blaze is believed to have begun when a dropped cigarette lit rubbish under the wooden seats of the wooden Main Stand at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium A police officer shouted to a colleague for an extinguisher, but his call was misheard and instead the fire brigade were radioed. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said. "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". BBC Sport looks back at the Bradford City fire disaster that claimed the lives of 56 spectators when a stand became engulfed in flames on 11 May 1985. By the time they got back, the whole thing had taken off. It occurred during a league match in front of record numbers of spectators, on Saturday, 11 May 1985, killing 56 and injuring at least 265. Crowds on the pitch at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium after the stand caught fire, Bradford City fans pay tribute to the 56 fans who died the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985, The blaze causing the deaths of 56 supporters in one of the worst incidents in British football, Bradford artist Paul Town was inspired to paint after surviving the Valley Parade fire, Stay up to date with our daily newsletter, New book claims fatal 1985 Bradford City Valley Parade fire might have been started deliberately, Bradford City chairman 'linked to eight fires' before Valley Parade stadium disaster, Bradford City 0-0 Reading: Bantams hold Royals in quarter-final stalemate, David Alaba receives massive abuse for voting for Lionel Messi in The Best awards, Glazers' demands set to delay Manchester United takeover: reports, Man Utd beat West Ham to reach FA Cup quarters as Spurs crash out, Bahrain GP: F1 team rankings ahead of 2023 season-opener, Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Xavi admits Los Blancos still favourites to advance. A call was made on a police radio to the police operations room in Bradford and relayed to the fire brigade at 3.43 pm. However, the turnstiles were locked and none of the stadium staff were present to unlock them, leaving no escape through the normal entrances and exits. The horrific scenes of people burning alive seemed to live on in an eerie silence as daylight broke over the remains of Bradford City Football Club's ground yesterday. 1.7M subscribers in the CatastrophicFailure community. Bradford fan David Pendleton, then aged 21 and stood in the main stand: "For the first minute people were laughing and joking, it wasn't anything serious. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Led by former England international Trevor Cherry, the Bantams won only their third divisional title and earned a return to the second tier of English football for the first time since 1937. "The letters that went to the club, the council's failings, the police's failings, even as supporters we allowed a culture where the gates were locked. The entrances to the stand were all at the rear and were higher than the rest of the ground. It was fairly clear that somebody had dropped a lighted match or cigarette between the floorboards.". 1985 disaster in Valley Parade Stadium, Bradford, England. People were clambering over the wall on to the ground with their clothes and hair on fire. His most recent painting is a powerful image; two fans in Bradford and Lincoln City kits, surrounded by 54 other figures. By this date the appeal fund set up for survivors had paid out more than 4m with further payouts expected as the effects of physical and mental injury were determined. > Contacts> Join us> Circulars> Training courses> Sign up to Rollcall. Some people seem to have run back up the slope, thinking that they could get back through the turnstiles, and were burned alive. Others ran forward to try to clamber over a fence and a small wall on to the pitch. Today marks the 35th anniversary of one of the worst disasters in the history of British football. Former Bradford midfielder John Hendrie, who was playing in the match: "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. Within 48 hours of the disaster, the Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund had been set up and would eventually raise over 3.5m ($5.4m). [14] It took less than four minutes for the entire stand to be engulfed in flames.[11]. He went on to state: "In 1985 fire investigation in Britain was in its infancy and some would say at that time most fire investigators were not much more than dust-kickers. "Me and my dad eventually got out safely but it was a bit of a struggle at one point because the walls getting down to the pitch level were quite high I didn't get a growth spurt until I was 16 or 17.". At 3.40pm, television commentator John Helm remarked upon a small fire in the main stand; in less than four minutes, with the windy conditions, the fire had engulfed the whole stand, trapping some people in their seats. Although there was no perimeter fencing, such as led to the devastating crush at Hillsborough, locked turnstiles meant that many fans who tried to escape by that means were killed or seriously injured. However as the game against Lincoln progressed, a fire began just before half-time in the stand that ran alongside the pitch. Warnings had been issued over the ground's antiquated wooden structure, which had been condemned and was due to be pulled down and replaced with steel and concrete. Most of the fans who took this escape route were killed or seriously injured. Bradford City were supposed to be celebrating on 11 May 1985. The blame was through neglect, they didn't have the money to maintain the stand. The Bradford way was keep it to ourselves - it worked collectively that we did that. It was during this treatment that Sharpe began to develop the Bradford Sling,[21] which applies even pressure across sensitive areas. Bradford city council officials, off-duty policemen and guests from Bradford 's twin town, Munchengladbach, were there to celebrate. 'I have to tell you that the fire was so intense that identifying people is going to be the great problem we have to face.'. One elderly man started to walk across the pitch with his clothes and face ablaze. Each year Lincoln send representatives to the annual memorial service in Bradford city centre and between 2007 and 2009, were managed by Bradford's captain that day, Peter Jackson. Below the seats were rows of litter which had piled up throughout the season, said witnesses. "As I ran away I remember turning around and looking and just seeing this wall of grey smoke pouring out and pushing thousands of people in front of it. [10] The stand seats did not have risers; this had allowed a large accumulation of rubbish and paper waste in the cavity space under the stand, which had not been cleared for many months. [] I still have terrible memories of the day, but it is the humanity of those that helped us that I reflect on."[41].
Bradford City stadium fire - Wikipedia Then the flames and smoke were all over the place.'. Luckily, his father arrived home shortly after he did, but 30 years on, he still remembers the young woman who served him a Mars Bar and his father a coffee, who never made it out of the stadium. Thirty years on, the majority of survivors still find it too difficult to talk about what happened at the Valley Parade on 11 May 1985. There is a twin memorial sculpture, unveiled on 11 May 1986, which has the names of the dead inscribed on it. Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'. Within five minutes the whole stand was engulfed in flames. Since 1903, when the club was formed, Bradford City Association Football Club had played their home games at the ground. When the game began there was no way out for them, except by going on to the pitch. Among the main outcomes of the inquiry were the banning of new wooden grandstands at all UK sports grounds, the immediate closure of other wooden stands deemed unsafe and the banning of smoking in other wooden stands. The fact the inquiry also embraced the investigation into another incident which happened on the same day, a riot in which a young boy died at Birmingham City, makes it seem more frivolous. [22], Immediately after the fire, Sharpe planned and treated the injuries of over 200 individuals, with many experimental treatments being used. Those with longer memories will also think of the Ibrox disaster of . At the time, however, Harrison says, Bradford just wanted to move on. It spelt out 'thank you fans'. The courts held the club to be two thirds responsible, finding that it gave "no or very little thought to fire precautions" despite repeated warnings. Pendleton: "I walked past a public telephone outside the ground and there were queues of people waiting to ring home to say: 'I'm OK'. In March 1985 the club's plans became more apparent when it took delivery of steel for a new roof. They were at fault, but the fault was that no-one in authority seems ever to have properly appreciated the real gravity of this fire hazard and consequently no-one gave it the attention it certainly ought to have received. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. Witnesses of the fire have come to terms with the tragedy in different ways. The match was recorded by Yorkshire Television for their regional edition of the ITV Sunday afternoon football show The Big Match. A few minutes later, he felt a thump on his back from his father, who told him to run. Sign up and stay up to date with our daily newsletter. We had to run up the stairs, through the office doors and out on to the street. 24 Bradford City A.F.C. Bradford fan Matthew Wildman, who was aged 17 and using crutches because of rheumatoid arthritis: "When I got to one of the final walls, there was an eight-foot drop at the other side, concrete at the bottom. 56 dead and hundreds more injured. Club coach Terry Yorath incurred minor injuries while taking part in the rescue. Mike Harrison, the editor of the Bradford City Football Club fanzine The City Gent, was there on the day. The 51 other bodies of children, women and men were so badly burned that identification will take many days. Burning timber and molten material began to fall onto the seating below and black smoke enveloped the passageway behind, where fans were trying to escape. Martin Fletcher was talking to BBC Look North. However, the fire had consumed the stand entirely by that point and they were faced with huge flames and very dense smoke.