Helm: "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". 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. I saw a group of people around the smoke laughing. [10] Bradford City's coach Terry Yorath, whose family was in the stand,[19] ran onto the pitch to help evacuate people. It was clear from what the Chief Fire Officer for West Yorkshire, Mr Graham Karran, said yesterday that the ground was far from safe. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. People were clambering over the wall on to the ground with their clothes and hair on fire. I was there in hospital for eight weeks - it felt like a lifetime. 05/12/15 AT 9:58 AM BST Crowds on the pitch at the Valley Parade stadium after a stand caught fire Getty Images Police have revealed the identity of the man who they believe was responsible. The flames suddenly appeared and the whole roof took alight,' he said. England won the re-match 64. The fire happened during a football match. [11] Those who escaped were taken out of the ground to neighbouring homes and a pub, where a television screened World of Sport, which broadcast video recorded of the fire just an hour after it was filmed. [48] Profits from the play's run at The Edinburgh Fringe were donated to the Bradford Burns Unit. Within five minutes the whole stand was engulfed in flames. "A lot of investigative work had been done by the police when I got there. > Contacts> Join us> Circulars> Training courses> Sign up to Rollcall. The fire was described as the worst fire disaster in the history of British football, and the worst football related disaster since 66spectators died at Ibrox in 1971. She was hysterical and trying to find her three children. [38], The tragedy received immense media attention and drew support from around the world, with those offering their sympathy including Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. Bradford fire: the horrors and the silence that had to be broken Daniel Taylor The policewoman assigned to the grieving Fletchers gets goosebumps when she looks back to 30 years ago. "It is the little things that show how much people are still involved the fire still has a big impact on people. It was to be our day,' he said. [15], At 3:44pm, five minutes before half-time, the first sign of a firea glowing lightwas noticed three rows from the back of block G,[10][16] as reported by television commentator John Helm. The man in charge of investigating the fire, Detective Superintendent Kevin Cooper was at the game. Interviews conducted by BBC Radio Leeds' Tim Daley. 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. Bits of my arms, bits of my legs, part of my face, part of my scalp. Someone came in and shouted: 'Get out, get out there's a fire'. It detailed the safety work which would be carried out at Valley Parade as a result of the club's promotion, admitting the ground was "inadequate in so many ways for modern requirements". We use necessary cookies to make our site work. Mike Harrison, the editor of the Bradford City Football Club fanzine The City Gent, was there on the day. But a minute or so later there was suddenly a bigger whoosh of smoke so they went to get a steward. He asks the reader to make their mind up about whether these fires were a coincidence or not.". I had no idea. The fire claimed young and old alike, with most fatalities occurring at the rear of the stand where people sought escape only to find turnstiles locked. The entrances to the stand were all at the rear and were higher than the rest of the ground. 'The smoke was very, very dense. Fletcher, who was 12 at the time of the fire, does not make any direct allegations but he does believe Heginbotham's history with fires resulting in payouts of around 27m in today's terms warrants further investigation. It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernisation of many British football grounds within the following thirty years. 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. Only one person had been positively identified by police by early last night. There is no evidence in the book, he is just pointing out there are some coincidences. We were given the trophy before the game in front of the supporters and had to do a lap of honour. His son Christopher normally watches from the stand but on Saturday he joined other fans elsewhere. ", IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. 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. "We wouldn't normally have covered that game - no question about it. "We couldn't help because there were so many people streaming towards us, to our side of the pitch, to get away from the heat. People were wandering around outside the ground in disbelief, reminiscent of an air disaster, at what had happened the day before. 48,785 Location Lake Jonathan Creek The footage never gets any less shocking. ', Bradford City Fire Website messages of condolence from around the world, "Chuckle Brothers' single for Bradford City fire anniversary", "Bradford City stadium fire: The untold stories of the 1985 fire", "Emotive play of Bradford City fire disaster raises cash for burns unit", "Book Review: Four Minutes to Hell: The Story of the Bradford City Fire by Paul Firth football book reviews", "Football Focus 1st May 2010 Bradford City Part 1", Bradford City A year of healing Documentary, "Bradford fire: expert demands new investigation into blaze", "Bradford City stadium fire 1985 IPCC investigation decision", "BRADFORD CITY FIRE: Accidental cause of tragedy 'not in any doubt', says detective", "Bradford City fire 'started by cigarette', "Bradford City fire: Briton attacks 'inaccurate' BBC documentary claiming his uncle started blaze", "Bradford fire: Sir Oliver Popplewell defends 1985 inquiry interview in full", Living with Jacko From Touchline to Lifeline, Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire, The full Interim Report by Lord Popplewell into the Bradford City Fire, British Medical Journal article on the treatment of burns casualties after the Bradford City Fire, Peter Jackson's account of the Bradford City Fire, Nationally broadcast Yorkshire Television programme covering the fire, broadcast the following day, ITN bulletin covering the fire, also from the following day, ITN bulletin covering the aftermath, from three days later, Chelsea F.C. Eight fires in the 18 years before the Bradford City fire were identified, many catastrophic and leading to large insurance payouts. 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. Like you, we're already preparing for Black Rock City to rise again. An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. Tarpaulin fell on them and stuck to their clothes and then ignited. Keep an eye out as you ride your bike through the city you will see a new solar-powered Man, fewer gas and . It was during this treatment that Sharpe began to develop the Bradford Sling,[21] which applies even pressure across sensitive areas. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. [53], In 1986, a year after the disaster, Yorkshire Television aired a documentary presented by John Helm entitled Bradford City A Year of Healing. "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.". "[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. "As well as those who lost their lives or were injured, there are the relatives and friends, the others who were at the game, and those who would normally have gone to the match but decided not to that day. They were hampered further by the fact that doors at the back of the stand were locked to try to stop people coming in without paying. Bradford city council officials, off-duty policemen and guests from Bradford 's twin town, Munchengladbach, were there to celebrate. "When I got to one of the final walls, there was an eight-foot drop at the other side, concrete at the bottom. "The fire still has a big impact on people," Parker says. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". "How quickly the fire spread is difficult to convey to people.". Supporters either ran upwards to the back of the stand or downwards to the pitch to escape. Coach Terry Yorath described the events as "the worst day in my life. Four police officers, constables David Britton and John Richard Ingham and chief inspectors Charles Frederick Mawson and Terence Michael Slocombe, and two spectators, Richard Gough and David Hustler, were awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for their actions. The heat was so intense it caused car windows to shatter in the street. [] 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 56 Dead & 100's Injured The Bradford City stadium fire was a stadium disaster that occurred during an English League Third Division fixture between Bradford City and Lincoln City on Saturday, 11 May 1985, killing 56 and injuring at least 265. It wasn't until later on when assistant manager Terry Yorath came in and said: 'It's not good.'". According to ABC News, though, several hundred people in the Chinese city of Luoyang decided to cut loose on Christmas night 2000 by heading to a nightclub housed on the fourth floor of a multi-use industrial building.A fire broke out in the basement of the structure . It is repeated across the country on BBC Two at 23:20 BST on Wednesday, 13 May. Following the hearing in 1986, a test case was brought against the club by David Britton, a police sergeant serving on the day, and by Susan Fletcher, who lost her husband John, 11-year-old son Andrew, John's brother Peter and his father Edmond in the fire. One, now re-situated to that end of the stand where the fire began, is a sculpture donated on the initial re-opening of Valley Parade in December 1986 by Sylvia Graucob, a then Jersey-based former West Yorkshire woman. 56 dead and hundreds more injured. He later said: "I have never known anything like it, either before, or since. At Valley Parade there are now two memorials. "It is unbelievable how quickly the fire took hold. Fans in the next stand (the "Bradford End") pulled down the fence separating them from the pitch. Edited by BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko. Then the flames and smoke were all over the place.'. Police officers also assisted in the rescue attempts. It was a gruesome sight to see bodies still sitting upright in their seats, covered in tarpaulin. People were scrambling for their lives to get out, and I know having sat in that stand normally that it is difficult and there is a drop to get to the pitch level," Harrison says. The blame was through neglect, they didn't have the money to maintain the stand. [10] The call was timed at 3:43pm. The Bradford way was keep it to ourselves - it worked collectively that we did that. "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. Many were burnt to death at the turnstiles gates, which had also been locked after the match had begun. Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). And all you could smell was burning.". There has been reports of people lighting paper under the seats, and it was important that as many fans as possible who were in the stand or at the Kop end contacted the police. We had not been told anything.". Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The team was presented with the Division Three championship trophy - their first trophy in 56 years - in front of 11,000 jubilant fans before the start of their match against Lincoln City. "A disaster is not black and white - it is a mass of factors.". Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. Saturday began for the fans in a carnival atmosphere at Bradford 's Valley Parade ground a short walk from the city centre. 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.. The Bradford Burns Unit was set up by Professor David Sharpe after he received many of the victims following the fire. And the black and twisted skeleton of the burnt stand stood out in the night. Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'. The 1984-85 season had been one of the most successful in Bradford City's 82-year history. 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. 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 name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, that occurs on the penultimate night of Burning Man, which is the Saturday evening before Labor Day. You could hardly breathe. Hendrie: "Several minutes before half-time I saw there was a wee bit of bother. Like all areas of forensic investigations, it has come on leaps and bounds. 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. This day was for them. ", On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online. Today, locals continue to raise money for the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit in memory of the victims of the fire. Most of the fans who took this escape route were killed or seriously injured. "It wasn't covering anything up, it wasn't avoiding the truth of what happened, everyone knows what happened, everyone knows it shouldn't have happened. More than 250 others were injured in one of the biggest disasters at a British football ground. Martin Fletcher, a Bradford fan who lost three generations of his family in the fire, published a memoir of the tragic event called Fifty-Six The Story Of The Bradford Fire, in which he claimed the blaze at Valley Parade was one of nine fires at businesses owned by or associated with Heginbotham. Exactly 79 years to the day after the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, another tragic fire occurred in New York City. 2022 DECOMPRESSION WAS DREAMY . A giant Christian cross, made up of two large charred wooden members[44] that had once been part of the stand, was constructed in front of the middle of the stand and behind the pitchside speaker's platform. Wildman: "I was dragged on to the pitch and into a line of people, who couldn't do much for themselves and were lying there. Following his own 15 year investigation Into the fire, which killed four of his family members while he escaped, former tax accountant Martin Fletcher released 56: The Story of the Bradford Fire (2015). The only fire extinguishers in the ground were in the clubroom, which is also in the main stand. Christopher Hammond, who was 12 on the day, said on the 20th anniversary of the fire: "As a 12-year-old, it was easy to move on I didn't realise how serious it was until I looked at the press coverage over the next few days. Below the seats were rows of litter which had piled up throughout the season, said witnesses. [16] Messages of condolence were also received from Helmut Kohl, Chedli Klibi and Felipe Gonzlez. "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. Fifty-six people died. The heat inside the stand literally ignited people where they stood. 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. Although I was only 12 at the time, 11 May 1985 is a day. 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." We went over to the policeman stood at the corner flag and asked if it was being sorted out, and he said it was under control," Harrison says. [56], On 17 April 2015, retired Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer, in a report by the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, said the police were aware of an Australian man who admitted to starting the fire. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. It transpired that the wooden stand had already been condemned and was set to be demolished just two days after the tragedy. More than 250 others were injured in one of the. Warning: Some readers may find parts of this content distressing. [citation needed] Mathew Wildman, aged 17 at the time of the fire, commented that "I must have had five different experiments carried out on me with all sorts of new techniques for skin grafts and I had potions injected into me that helped my face repair naturally over time. "[16] As spectators began to cascade over the wall separating the stand from the pitch, the linesman on that side of the pitch informed referee Norman Glover, who stopped the game with three minutes remaining before half-time. It wasn't until later on when assistant manager Terry Yorath came in and said: 'It's not good.'". Somebody looked round and grabbed me by the hood of my coat to pull me over. Website by, Bradford City FC stadium fire | 11th May 1985, Fundraising for firefighters and their families. People had walked through turnstiles and along a wooden corridor before descending the steps into their seats. At the time, however, Harrison says, Bradford just wanted to move on. 56 people dead. 1908 - Rhoads Opera House fire, Boyertown, Pennsylvania, killed 170. Earlier this year, Town gave up working in construction to pursue painting full-time through his business Stadium Portraits. Another player went into the office space to ensure there was nobody there. On 23 February 1987, Sir Joseph Cantley found the club two thirds responsible and the county council (which by this time had been abolished) one third responsible. "The scene when I arrived was horrendous. Videos, gifs, or aftermath photos of machinery, structures, or devices "That was the legacy of the tragedy. The main stand at Bradford was not surrounded by fencing, and therefore most of the spectators in it could escape onto the pitch if they had been penned in then the death toll would inevitably have been in the hundreds if not the thousands. People smothered him to extinguish the flames, but he later died of his injuries in hospital. "I know it's a clich to say that, but it's true.". He saw smoke coming from a small area of the stand and thought that someone had let off a flare. A capacity 6,000 crowd attended a multi-denominational memorial service, held on the pitch in the sunny shadow of the burnt out stand at Valley Parade in July 1985. No fire extinguishers had been installed over fears of vandalism and less than four minutes after the fire was reported, the fire had engulfed the whole stand. On the recording are Dene Michael (Black Lace), The Chuckle Brothers, Clive Jackson of Dr & The Medics, Owen Paul, Billy Pearce, Billy Shears, Flint Bedrock, Danny Tetley and Rick Wild of The Overlanders. Some of the dead were found at the bottom of these steps. [12] The work was expected to cost 400,000 (1.3million today). [45] In total, 28 police officers and 22 supporters, who were publicly documented as having saved at least one life, later received police commendations or bravery awards. The fire started five minutes before half-time during the match on 11 May between Bradford and Lincoln City. It was nearly double the season's average of 6,610 and included 3,000fans in the ground's main stand. Sign up and stay up to date with our daily newsletter. They were not able to use water on the stand immediately because this would have hampered attempts to rescue people being dragged by the police and friends from the stand. Come celebrate the beastly realm and our place in it and with it, an even more radically inclusive and sustainable city and global community in 2023: ANIMALIA! The extinguishers were put there so that they would be out of the way of fans who could use them as missiles, which apparently had happened previously. Loading. Bradford, playing into a strong wind, were struggling to break down a Lincoln side already safe from relegation. A police officer shouted to a colleague for an extinguisher, but his call was misheard and instead the fire brigade were radioed. All that was left of. [45] PCs Peter Donald Barrett and David Charles Midgley, along with spectators Michael William Bland and Timothy Peter Leigh received the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct. It was the brainchild of Bradford City fan Lloyd Spencer with all profits going to the Bradford Royal Infirmary Burns Unit.[43]. [46], In 2014, the theatre company Funny You Should Ask (FYSA) premiered their heartfelt tribute to the 56 people who died at the fire. 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 . Bradford City continues to support the burns unit at the University of Bradford as its official charity. His father Tony went back the following day and said: "I wondered how anybody had got out alive, but I also began to feel guilty that I had got out when so many hadn't." 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. [30], The outcome of the test case resulted in over 154 claims being addressed (110 civilians and 44 police officers)[31] by the injured or bereaved. "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. "We stayed in the pub for hours. They wouldn't let us because then people would get in the way of fire engines, ambulances and police trying to get in. Police worked until 4am the next morning, under lighting, to remove all the bodies. They stood outside the headquarters, staring at nothing in particular. 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'. Valley Parade re-opened on 14 December 1986, when Bradford City beat an England XI 21 in a friendly. [8][10] Three men smashed down one door and at least one exit was opened by people outside, which again helped prevent further deaths. "I parked my van outside because I started making enough money painting as I was in construction. Fifty-six people were killed, 265 were injured and thousands bore witness to the worst fire disaster in the history of English football. Part of the service was also held in Urdu and Punjabi as a sign of appreciation to the local ethnically Asian Subcontinental community in Manningham, Bradford and around Valley Parade who had opened their homes to Bradford City supporters to provide assistance in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. A discarded cigarette and a dilapidated wooden stand, which had survived because the club did not have the money to replace it, and accumulated paper litter, were considered to have conspired to cause the worst disaster in the history of the Football League. "[11] Police Superintendent Barry Osborne, divisional commander for the area, said many of his officers cried when they saw how badly people had been burned. 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. 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. Martin Fletcher, whose brother, father, grandfather and uncle all died in the fire: "I'm taking the opportunity to lay out the facts that were not laid out in 1985 at the time of the inquiry or the inquests. There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". ", There has always been a close bond between the club and its supporters since the fire, he adds. The stand had already been condemned, and the demolition teams were due to start work two days later. I don't see that. I remember trying to make sense of what was going on. 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. One family was in tears, the mother shaking. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 13:41. [10] Of those who died, 11 were under-18 and 23 were aged 65 or over,[20] and the oldest victim was the club's former chairman, Sam Firth, aged 86. Steel was to be installed in the roof,[8] and the wooden terracing was to be replaced with concrete. He was completely on fire and it looked as though he simply did not know what had happened to him.'. The next day work began on clearing the burnt out shell of the stand, and Justice Popplewell released his findings into the disaster. Those who escaped walked to a nearby pub to use the phone to ring home, while others arrived in a daze outside the police headquarters to try and trace relatives.
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