[14] It took less than four minutes for the entire stand to be engulfed in flames.[11]. The 1985 Bradford City Football Stadium Fire What Happened and Why [11], The fire escalated very rapidly, and flames became visible; police started to evacuate the stand. Television cameras spotted the outbreak of fire in Valley Parade's main stand at 15:40 BST. "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. 'The smoke was very, very dense. There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". Copyright 2023 IBTimes UK. Valley Parade re-opened on 14 December 1986, when Bradford City beat an England XI 21 in a friendly. The Bradford City Stadium Fire 1985 - The Football Inferno A police officer shouted to a colleague for an extinguisher, but his call was misheard and instead the fire brigade were radioed. ", IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. But all the people being treated, we formed a family, a bond.". 56 people dead. Another player went into the office space to ensure there was nobody there. "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. The speed at which fire engulfs the entire stand is insane. 'They did not have a chance. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". Interviews conducted by BBC Radio Leeds' Tim Daley. 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. "We stayed in the pub for hours. Some of those who died were still sitting upright in their seats, covered by remnants of tarpaulin that had fallen from the roof. 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 Bradford way was keep it to ourselves - it worked collectively that we did that. As he received the injured at Bradford Royal Infirmary he was able to call upon 10% of the UK's population of plastic surgeons. However as the game against Lincoln progressed, a fire began just before half-time in the stand that ran alongside the pitch. The intensity of the blaze which spread 'quicker than people could walk' destroyed the main stand area, leaving a skeleton of burned seats, lamps and fences. Today, locals continue to raise money for the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit in memory of the victims of the fire. "I walked past a public telephone outside the ground and there were queues of people waiting to ring home to say: 'I'm OK'. 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. Part of the Appeal funds were raised by a recording of "You'll Never Walk Alone"[42] from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Carousel by The Crowd (including Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers, who had recorded the 1963 version that led to Liverpool adopting it as their motto and team song), which reached number one in the UK Singles chart. As he scaled the brick perimeter wall at the front, his father stayed behind to help others escape. "[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. '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.'. 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 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. They wouldn't let us because then people would get in the way of fire engines, ambulances and police trying to get in. "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.". Mr Antony Burrows said: 'One man was stood near me with his hair on fire. 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. Bradford City stadium fire | Football Wiki | Fandom 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. 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. Keep an eye out as you ride your bike through the city you will see a new solar-powered Man, fewer gas and . It seemed to put it out. "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. 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. When the game began there was no way out for them, except by going on to the pitch. 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. Bradford city council officials, off-duty policemen and guests from Bradford 's twin town, Munchengladbach, were there to celebrate. [47] Scriptwriters of the play spent hours with the survivors and victims families. I remember trying to make sense of what was going on. I dread to imagine how many more could have died if the wind had been blowing in the direction of the pitch, instead of away from it. "We wouldn't normally have covered that game - no question about it. People were arriving in a daze outside Bradford police headquarters on Saturday evening and early yesterday. 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. 1.7M subscribers in the CatastrophicFailure community. Mr Stefan Krolak, a survivor from Bradford , said he saw the smoke start a few seats away from him 'The smoke seemed suddenly to set on fire. 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. An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. Website by, Bradford City FC stadium fire | 11th May 1985, Fundraising for firefighters and their families. At the time, however, Harrison says, Bradford just wanted to move on. Forty-two minutes into the first half of the game, he looked to his left to see smoke and flames rising from the old wooden seats. 48,785 Location Lake Jonathan Creek The footage never gets any less shocking. His son Christopher normally watches from the stand but on Saturday he joined other fans elsewhere. The fire started five minutes before half-time during the match on 11 May between Bradford and Lincoln City. 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. 1985: Fans killed in Bradford stadium fire. For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford. I was there in hospital for eight weeks - it felt like a lifetime. [53], In 1986, a year after the disaster, Yorkshire Television aired a documentary presented by John Helm entitled Bradford City A Year of Healing. Like all areas of forensic investigations, it has come on leaps and bounds. "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. [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. Videos, gifs, or aftermath photos of machinery, structures, or devices It was during this treatment that Sharpe began to develop the Bradford Sling,[21] which applies even pressure across sensitive areas. 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. There was some kind of disturbance near the edge of a block of seats in the G section of the main stand. No one gave it the attention it ought to have received.. .. ", "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye. The game was irrelevant. 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). What Is Burning Man? 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. 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. It is repeated across the country on BBC Two at 23:20 BST on Wednesday, 13 May. Helm: "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". 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 Most Tragic Nightclub Fires In History - Grunge.com "It made me realise life is too short." We wanted to record the trophy presentation. 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. ", 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. [4], Although there had been some changes to other parts of the ground, the main stand remained unaltered by 1985. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. [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 fundraising events included a reunion of the 1966 World Cup Final Starting XI that began with the original starting teams of both England and West Germany, and was held at Leeds United's stadium, Elland Road, in July 1985 to raise funds for the Appeal fund. 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. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said. [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. "[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. The Popplewell Inquiry found that the club had been warned about the fire risk that the rubbish accumulating under the stand had posed. 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 stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. 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. 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]. Copyright , Fire Brigades Union, 2023. People pushed him to the ground and tried to smother the flames. Wealso use analytics cookies that don't track usersto help us improve it. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. Police removed the last body from the ground at 4 am yesterday, working under arc lights. [31] In 1988, the first compensation payments were made to survivors of the fire, with over 40 people receiving up to 40,000 each. Pendleton: "Many people still don't want to talk about the disaster. Town began to paint two years ago, first of the old Bradford Park Avenue ground, before moving onto other stadiums. However, the fire had consumed the stand entirely by that point and they were faced with huge flames and very dense smoke. He saw smoke coming from a small area of the stand and thought that someone had let off a flare. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. BBC ON THIS DAY | 11 | 1985: Fans killed in Bradford stadium fire 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.
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