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. 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. 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. Within a few hours of the blaze starting, it was established that 56 people had been killed, many as a result of smoke inhalation, although some of them had survived until reaching hospital.[11]. Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'. "[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'. Then flames licked the underside of the seats, which were a combination of wood and plastic. Bradford City continues to support the burns unit at the University of Bradford as its official charity. Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground. Fifty people die in a fire in the grandstand at a soccer stadium in Bradford, England, on May 11, 1985. 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 . They were immediately promoted back to the Football League in 1988, and survived for 23 years before being relegated again in 2011. On Saturday 11 May 2002, the 17th anniversary of the disaster, a memorial with the names of those who lost their lives was dedicated at the new entrance to the redeveloped Sunwin stand. My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. Pendleton: "One of my most haunting images was being on the bus home after dark and going past Valley Parade. 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. Since 1903, when the club was formed, Bradford City Association Football Club had played their home games at the ground. We wanted to record the trophy presentation. Burning timbers and molten materials fell from the roof onto the crowd and seating below, and dense black smoke enveloped a passageway behind the stand, where many spectators were trying to escape. Helm: "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". He later died in hospital. The book also raises concerns about the speed of the inquiry and the fact that it commenced a few weeks after the fire and lasted for only a few days, whereas other inquiries into similar incidents, pre and post the Bradford fire, have taken years to come to fruition and months to be heard. 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. People who had escaped the fire then tried to assist their fellow supporters. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. But looking back and seeing how much it really affected my dad makes me realise what we went through." People pushed him to the ground and tried to smother the flames. 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. 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. Helm later described the start of the fire in an interview to the Express newspaper: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, [A] man over from Australia visiting his son got two tickets to the game. A minute later he saw a small plume of smoke so he poured his coffee on it and so did his son. By the time they got back, the whole thing had taken off. Fifty-six people died. It was appalling that public money was given to the club while it was still owned by the same shareholders under whose direction the fire had happened. Some days I had two operations in a day. That duty was not a duty to the Club but a duty to the spectators and other persons in the stand. However, when Bradford City won promotion to the highest level of English football, Division One, in 1908, club officials sanctioned an upgrade programme. Together, flanked by undocumented supporters, they managed to clear all but one person who made it to the front of the stand. One woman was seen running around the ground with no skin on her arms and face. There was some kind of disturbance near the edge of a block of seats in the G section of the main stand. The fire started five minutes before half-time during the match on 11 May between Bradford and Lincoln City. "[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. BurningMan.NYC will announce the dates and process for the 2023 grant cycle on this site & all BurningMan.NYC social channels in early Spring. Radiated heat from the burning roof of the stand set fire to the clothing of fans trapped underneath. Those who rescued people were themselves burned in the process. It slipped through a hole in the floorboard. He agreed that the inquiry into Bradford, led by the judge Oliver Popplewell, was inadequate and that there are many unanswered questions. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. One family was in tears, the mother shaking. 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. Sign up and stay up to date with our daily newsletter. The local council was deemed to be one third responsible. [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. Coach Terry Yorath described the events as "the worst day in my life. More than 250 others were injured in one of the. [8][9] In the crowd were local dignitaries and guests from three of Bradford's twin townsVerviers in Belgium, and Mnchengladbach and Hamm in West Germany. They wouldn't let us because then people would get in the way of fire engines, ambulances and police trying to get in. Uncensored coverage of the fire was transmitted minutes after the event on World of Sport and the BBC's Grandstand after the video cassette was physically driven to Yorkshire Television. His most recent painting is a powerful image; two fans in Bradford and Lincoln City kits, surrounded by 54 other figures. "A lot of investigative work had been done by the police when I got there. Police had an official photographer at the game, watching for crowd disturbance. 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. Town began to paint two years ago, first of the old Bradford Park Avenue ground, before moving onto other stadiums. About 3,000 people were in Valley Parade's main stand, escaping by climbing over walls on to the pitch or through the usual exit gates. Just look at how many people were standing around just 50-60 meters away from the blazing inferno. More than 250 others were injured in one of the biggest disasters at a British football ground. The smoke was choking. The fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium in which 56 people died and more than 270 were injured is remembered 25 years on. It was nearly double the season's average of 6,610 and included 3,000fans in the ground's main stand. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. ", There has always been a close bond between the club and its supporters since the fire, he adds. It spelt out 'thank you fans'. But many, including Harrison, believe it could unnecessarily reopen wounds if it does happen. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. "When I got to one of the final walls, there was an eight-foot drop at the other side, concrete at the bottom. People were falling on to each other and screaming. The fire started five minutes before half-time during the match on 11 May between Bradford and Lincoln City. Most of the exits at the back were locked or shut and there were no stewards present to open them, but seven were forced open or found open. 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. A fire at a third division match between Bradford City and Lincoln City killed 56, including 11 children, and injured hundreds more. The worst fire disaster in English football history played out on live television on May 11, after Valley Parade's main stand caught fire during a match between Bradford City and Lincoln City on . Mr Antony Burrows said: 'One man was stood near me with his hair on fire. I had to put my jumper over his hair to put the blaze out. We accepted it was an accident, nobody wanted to blame the club because it was the club we wanted to support. ", "If the inquiry is opened again, we will await to see what evidence there is to prove is wasn't an accident," he says. 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. Mr Delahunte was screaming into his microphone describing the scene until it became impossible to continue broadcasting. The playing area and stands were very basic but the ground had enough room for 18,000spectators. Copyright , Fire Brigades Union, 2023. Today, locals continue to raise money for the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit in memory of the victims of the fire. Another player went into the office space to ensure there was nobody there. 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. 1985 disaster in Valley Parade Stadium, Bradford, England. [8][10] Three men smashed down one door and at least one exit was opened by people outside, which again helped prevent further deaths. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. "[35], The total amount of compensation to the 154 claimants was reported to be as high as 20million, with the payouts covered by insurance taken out by the club. Pendleton: "Many people still don't want to talk about the disaster. The game was irrelevant. After 40 minutes of the first half, fans had begun to complain about the drab match and the 0-0 score. All you could hear was sirens and screams. "I was supposed to meet my father at my grandfather's house, but I was a bit late so I went straight to the game so I didn't miss the festivities.". 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. He was actually one of the detectives involved in one of the gravest miscarriages of justices in the country, the murder of Carol Wilkinson in Bradford, where someone was locked up for 20 years for a murder he didn't commit."[60]. People ran onto the pitch with their clothes on fire while others were trapped at the back of the stand where they had gone to try to escape through the turnstiles. Representatives from the fire brigade were due to go to the club tomorrow to inspect it and see whether regulations were being observed. [7] As it was the first piece of league silverware that the club had captured since they won the Division Three (North) title 56years earlier, 11,076supporters were in the ground. 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. At 3.40pm, five minutes before half-time, a glowing light was spotted three rows from the back of block G. "We were stood in line with the 18-yard, the penalty area, when we saw some smoke and a bit of fire diagonally from where we were. By the time the fire brigade arrived they were faced with huge flames and dense smoke. Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). [12] The work was expected to cost 400,000 (1.3million today). 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. [citation needed] Spectators later spoke of initially feeling their feet becoming warmer; one of them ran to the back of the stand for a fire extinguisher but found none. 1908 - Collinwood school fire, in Collinwood, Ohio (soon absorbed by Cleveland ), on March 4, killed 175. 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. It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernisation of many British football grounds within the following thirty years. 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. "But the feeling here is that it is hard to believe that someone would purposefully start a fire. I don't see that. Spreading with almost unbelievable speed, a small fire under a wooden bench consumed the entire stand in under four minutes.Original TV footage: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x31qcmtIf you would like to support this channel - https://buymeacoffee.com/TheRavensEyeAlthough focused primarily on disasters, this channel is all about the interesting, the strange, the unsolved, the tragic. At Valley Parade there are now two memorials. It is a simple account laid out for all to see. [31] In 1988, the first compensation payments were made to survivors of the fire, with over 40 people receiving up to 40,000 each. Lincoln City chairman Bob Dorrian, centre, is joined by Former Imps Players Association chairman Trevor Swinburne, left, and chairman of the Red Imps. The 1984-85 season had been one of the most successful in Bradford City's 82-year history. Steel was to be installed in the roof,[8] and the wooden terracing was to be replaced with concrete. "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. [40] Matthew Wildman was 17 at the time and needed crutches to walk because of rheumatoid arthritis. A few minutes later, he felt a thump on his back from his father, who told him to run. You could hardly breathe. People were wandering around outside the ground in disbelief, reminiscent of an air disaster, at what had happened the day before. As he received the injured at Bradford Royal Infirmary he was able to call upon 10% of the UK's population of plastic surgeons. 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. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. [2] The main stand was described as a "mammoth structure", but was unusual for its time because of its place on the side of a hill. 1.7M subscribers in the CatastrophicFailure community. It is not thought that there was any crowd trouble in this section but one theory the police are investigating is that a flare or smoke-bomb was thrown or was accidentally dropped. Valley Parade re-opened on 14 December 1986, when Bradford City beat an England XI 21 in a friendly. [4] Football ground writer Simon Inglis had described the view from the stand as "like watching football from the cockpit of a Sopwith Camel" because of its antiquated supports and struts. Pendleton: "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. 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. The stand had no perimeter fencing to keep fans from accessing the pitch, thus averting an instance of crush asphyxia as in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. All existing grandstands deemed fire risks were faced with immediate closure. 'It is the worst day in my life. In the last few years, the BCFC kit-man John Duckworth did a sponsored 73-mile walk between Lincoln's Sincil Bank stadium and Valley Parade, joined by Bradford fans along the way. Ironically, off-duty firemen were at the ground selling raffle tickets for a charity football match which should have been held yesterday. [6] 1908 - Parker Building, New York City, January 10. Original television coverage of the fire, as caught by cameras covering the match. "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. "I know it's a clich to say that, but it's true.". It was the brainchild of Bradford City fan Lloyd Spencer with all profits going to the Bradford Royal Infirmary Burns Unit.[43]. Now they will begin another inquiry, into the cause of the Bradford fire. "Several minutes before half-time I saw there was a wee bit of bother. He was helped out of the stand by other fans and spent a period of time in hospital. Someone came in and shouted: 'Get out, get out there's a fire'. "A disaster is not black and white - it is a mass of factors.". "That was the moment that I realised not everybody was going to get out. I do not include the people currently running the club, who have always displayed a great, sensitive duty to the memory of those who died. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. Some had been crushed as they tried to crawl under turnstiles to escape. 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. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. Parents and children were laughing and joking with the police as the preliminaries to the game began. [6], The 198485 season had been one of Bradford City's most successful seasons, ending with City clinching the championship title courtesy of a 20 victory against Bolton Wanderers in the penultimate game of the season.
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