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Martin Fletcher was talking to BBC Look North. Artist Paul Town, who now lives in Baildon, was 15 at the time of the fire. There were queues of people outside houses, which obviously wouldn't happen nowadays. 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]. 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. Lincoln City chairman Bob Dorrian, centre, is joined by Former Imps Players Association chairman Trevor Swinburne, left, and chairman of the Red Imps. The playing area and stands were very basic but the ground had enough room for 18,000spectators. "It is the little things that show how much people are still involved the fire still has a big impact on people. 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. ", Hendrie: "We stayed in the pub for hours. Fletcher has been the only survivor to publicly challenge the inquiry's findings. The man we see at 7:50 walking out onto the pitch on fire was a retired mill worker. [1] When the association football club was formed, the ground was changed very little and had no covered accommodation. 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. 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. [19] One fan put his jumper over a fellow supporter's head to extinguish flames. "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. 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 stayed in the pub for hours. He later died in hospital. There were no extinguishers in the stand's passageway for fear of vandalism, and one spectator ran to the clubhouse to find one but was overcome by smoke and impeded by others trying to escape. Interviews conducted by BBC Radio Leeds' Tim Daley. 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! [51] Another book; 56: The Story of the Bradford Fire (2015) was written by Martin Fletcher to discuss how the disaster was caused, and follows his loss of his father, brother, uncle and grandfather. Copyright 2023 IBTimes UK. "All I could see was eerie white lights that the fire brigade had set up and the smoke still in the sky. It is repeated across the country on BBC Two at 23:20 BST on Wednesday, 13 May. Copyright , Fire Brigades Union, 2023. ", IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. 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. 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 game was goalless after 40 minutes when play was stopped. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. The inquiry had found that the club had been warned that the accumulation of rubbish beneath the stands was a fire risk. It was a gruesome sight to see bodies still sitting upright in their seats, covered in tarpaulin. Television cameras spotted the outbreak of fire in Valley Parade's main stand at 15:40 BST. 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. [31] In 1988, the first compensation payments were made to survivors of the fire, with over 40 people receiving up to 40,000 each. [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. "[16] At the front of the stand, men threw children over the wall to help them escape. 1908 - Rhoads Opera House fire, Boyertown, Pennsylvania, killed 170. The two sides met for the first time after the fire in April 1989, when they arranged a benefit match in aid of the Hillsborough disaster, at Valley Parade. '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.'. I remember trying to make sense of what was going on. 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. The heat inside the stand literally ignited people where they stood. At the time of the disaster, many stadiums had perimeter fencing between the stands and the pitch to prevent incidents of football hooliganism particularly pitch invasions which were rife during the 1980s. "The one thing I remember at the time is we were grateful that we got an answer quickly after the inquiry. The Bradford way was keep it to ourselves - it worked collectively that we did that. 56 dead and hundreds more injured. Hendrie: "Several minutes before half-time I saw there was a wee bit of bother. [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. "The scene when I arrived was horrendous. 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. Today, locals continue to raise money for the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit in memory of the victims of the fire. However, when Bradford City won promotion to the highest level of English football, Division One, in 1908, club officials sanctioned an upgrade programme. His face was burned and his car, which he had parked outside the ground, was destroyed. "Many people still don't want to talk about the disaster. The Bradford City disaster took place on Saturday May 11, 1985 when a flash fire occurred at the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, England. 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. It has a black marble fascia on which the names and ages of those that died are inscribed in gold, and a black marble platform on which people can leave flowers and mementos. In the panic that ensued, fleeing crowds escaped on to the pitch but others at the back of the stand tried to break down locked exit doors to escape. 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. He saw smoke coming from a small area of the stand and thought that someone had let off a flare. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. Some of those who died were still sitting upright in their seats, covered by remnants of tarpaulin that had fallen from the roof. "Since then I have thought of everything we could have done, but we didn't have the presence of mind to run across the pitch and tell people to get out. [26], In July 1985, an inquest was held into the deaths; at the hearings the coroner James Turnbull recommended a death by misadventure outcome, with which the jury agreed. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. The scene in there was one of silence and shock. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Witnesses of the fire have come to terms with the tragedy in different ways. But looking back and seeing how much it really affected my dad makes me realise what we went through." Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground. The money raised from this record was contributed to fund the internationally renowned burns unit that was established in partnership between the University of Bradford and Bradford Royal Infirmary, immediately after the fire, which has also been Bradford City's official charity for well over a decade. Many were burnt to death at the turnstiles gates, which had also been locked after the match had begun. [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. "All you could see was black cloud. 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. We sat in the main stand the week before, but we had decided to move on that day," he says. "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. The sling is now used internationally in the treatment of burns. Bradford City players line up to observe a minutes silence for the 25th anniversary of the 1985 Bradford stadium fire prior to the Coca Cola League. I had to put my jumper over his hair to put the blaze out. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. 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. 1908 - Collinwood school fire, in Collinwood, Ohio (soon absorbed by Cleveland ), on March 4, killed 175. Someone came in and shouted: 'Get out, get out there's a fire'. Most of those who escaped onto the pitch were saved.[10]. "Then we ran out in our tracksuits each holding a massive card with a letter. Those who rescued people were themselves burned in the process. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. The disaster led to rigid new safety standards in UK stadiums, including the banning of new wooden grandstands. [52], On 1 May 2010, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fire the football TV show Football Focus was hosted from Valley Parade by Dan Walker, the show included interviews with Terry Yorath and John Hendrie. The fire happened during a football match. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. One elderly man started to walk across the pitch with his clothes and face ablaze. 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. Lincoln City's board responded by committing 1.1million (3.5million today) to their ground's renovation in the year that immediately followed the fire at Valley Parade, and over the following decade made improvements that eventually totalled 3million. 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. Hundreds more telephoned the police to try to trace relatives. [10] The call was timed at 3:43pm. Bradford City were supposed to be celebrating on 11 May 1985. It transpired that the wooden stand had already been condemned and was set to be demolished just two days after the tragedy. Only one person had been positively identified by police by early last night. The next day work began on clearing the burnt out shell of the stand, and Justice Popplewell released his findings into the disaster. We had not been told anything.". My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. "I know it's a clich to say that, but it's true.". The whole fire seemed to erupt in seconds,' he said. The only fire extinguishers in the ground were in the clubroom, which is also in the main stand. [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. 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. 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. 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. "When I got to one of the final walls, there was an eight-foot drop at the other side, concrete at the bottom. "We went out on to the pitch and I could see so many happy faces. ", "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye. [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. It's terrifying how quickly fire spreads in the wrong circumstances. 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. Police had an official photographer at the game, watching for crowd disturbance. It is a simple account laid out for all to see. 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 . "I was operated on every other day because I had so many burns and so many areas to work on. Saturday began for the fans in a carnival atmosphere at Bradford 's Valley Parade ground a short walk from the city centre. Superintendent Barry Osborne, divisional commander for the football club area, who was injured in the fire said that many policemen cried when they saw how badly people had been burned. 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. 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. That's when everybody else had the same thought. Below the seats were rows of litter which had piled up throughout the season, said witnesses. England won the re-match 64. Club coach Terry Yorath incurred minor injuries while taking part in the rescue. Called 'The 56' the play dramatises actual accounts of the Bradford City Fire with the purpose of the play showing how in times of adversity, the Football Club and the local community came together. 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 smoke was choking. Police officers also assisted in the rescue attempts. 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. The 4-alarm fire started in a one-story lumber storage building and spread to an adjacent building . 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. [57] Following the 30th anniversary of the fire, a number of news organisations named this man as Eric Bennett who was visiting his nephew in Bradford from Australia and attended the game on the day. [10] One eyewitness, Geoffrey Mitchell, told the BBC: "It spread like a flash. 1909 - Flores Theater fire, Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, on February 15, killed 250. A minute later he saw a small plume of smoke so he poured his coffee on it and so did his son. [32] Speaking at the close of the case, the Judge said "They (the club) were at fault, no one in authority seemed to have appreciated the fire hazard. Those are the words of David Pendleton, a survivor of the Bradford City fire disaster, which happened 30 years ago. Original television coverage of the fire, as caught by cameras covering the match. [40] Matthew Wildman was 17 at the time and needed crutches to walk because of rheumatoid arthritis. [11], The disaster also had a long-lasting effect on the fans. The Man burns on September 02, 2023. Police worked until 4am the next morning, under lighting, to remove all the bodies. I have never had to deal with such a situation before, and this has put the city on its heels.'. People smothered him to extinguish the flames, but he later died of his injuries in hospital. 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. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". It's a nice little business and it's something positive that came out of a tragedy. BurningMan.NYC will announce the dates and process for the 2023 grant cycle on this site & all BurningMan.NYC social channels in early Spring. 24 Bradford City A.F.C. A bid of 350 has been made for the original painting and Town will sell 56 prints in memorial of those who lost their lives, with the aim of raising 3,000 for the Bradford Burns Unit. After 40 minutes of the first half, fans had begun to complain about the drab match and the 0-0 score. Christmas Day is supposed to be happy and pleasant, a time to gather with loved ones for a chill and relaxing celebration. Surviving supporters, former Bradford players, the sole television commentator at the stadium and the judge who led the government inquiry tell the BBC about that fateful afternoon and its aftermath. Former Bradford midfielder John Hendrie, who was playing in the match: "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. People were arriving in a daze outside Bradford police headquarters on Saturday evening and early yesterday. Within 48 hours of the disaster, the Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund had been set up and would eventually raise over 3.5m ($5.4m). Fifty people die in a fire in the grandstand at a soccer stadium in Bradford, England, on May 11, 1985. 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. 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. Hillsborough looms the largest in our collective consciousness, but there were also the many deaths that occurred at Heysel Stadium in 1985, as well as the Bradford City stadium fire that same year. It was to be our day,' he said. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. We had not been told anything.". Eight fires in the 18 years before the Bradford City fire were identified, many catastrophic and leading to large insurance payouts. Some days I had two operations in a day. [16] Messages of condolence were also received from Helmut Kohl, Chedli Klibi and Felipe Gonzlez. The speed at which fire engulfs the entire stand is insane. 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. He was helped out of the stand by other fans and spent a period of time in hospital. The stand had already been condemned, and the demolition teams were due to start work two days later. But many, including Harrison, believe it could unnecessarily reopen wounds if it does happen. The 51 other bodies of children, women and men were so badly burned that identification will take many days. 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 inquiry into the disaster, chaired by Sir Oliver Popplewell and known as the Popplewell Inquiry,[25] led to the introduction of new legislation to improve safety at the UK's football grounds. Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. Watch Missed Warnings on BBC One in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire at 22:45 BST on Tuesday, 12 May. Bits of my arms, bits of my legs, part of my face, part of my scalp. 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. ", On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online. ", ITV football commentator John Helm, who provided live commentary of the unfolding disaster across the nation: "We wouldn't normally have covered that game - no question about it. [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. At the final home match against Barnsley at the end of April, Bradford City fans collected more than 8,000 in a bucket collection. "I saw people die in the stand - but it was only until then that I realised the scale of it.". Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). Mr Antony Burrows said: 'One man was stood near me with his hair on fire. I remember trying to make sense of what was going on. Wildman: "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. "It is unbelievable how quickly the fire took hold. 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. "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. One woman was seen running around the ground with no skin on her arms and face. "[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'. By the time the fire brigade arrived they were faced with huge flames and dense smoke. I'd seen the film on the Saturday but the bleakness of the stadium burnt out, and the gloom that afflicted everybody, was dreadful. 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. 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. 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. The Bradford Disaster Appeal fund, set up within 48hours of the disaster, eventually raised over 3.5million (11.3million today). 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. Now a new film claims an Australian was responsible for the worst . The Popplewell Inquiry found that the club had been warned about the fire risk that the rubbish accumulating under the stand had posed. "I remember not being able to watch it, but we couldn't get out. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. Hendrie: "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. [] I still have terrible memories of the day, but it is the humanity of those that helped us that I reflect on."[41]. Those are the words of David Pendleton, a survivor of the Bradford City fire disaster, which happened 30 years ago. An inquiry launched in the aftermath of the disaster led to legislation to improve safety at football grounds. "We couldn't run back down the tunnel. Videos, gifs, or aftermath photos of machinery, structures, or devices Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Revealed: former Bradford chairman linked to at least eight fires before Valley Parade disaster, Martin Fletcher: Maybe the reason I am here is to finally reveal the truth, TheStory of the Bradford Fire: could any man really be as unlucky as Stafford Heginbotham?. [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. In March 1985 the club's plans became more apparent when it took delivery of steel for a new roof. People who had escaped the fire then tried to assist their fellow supporters. 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. The mood before the match on the 11 May 1985 against Lincoln City was one of jubilation. It is impossible so far to be accurate about the precise cause of the fire, with grossly conflicting reports from witnesses. But I've never spoken to anyone who thought the fire wasn't anything other than a tragic accident. ", There has always been a close bond between the club and its supporters since the fire, he adds. 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 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. [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. 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. There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". It wasn't until later on when assistant manager Terry Yorath came in and said: 'It's not good.'". [49], Parrs Wood Press published Four Minutes to Hell: The Story of the Bradford City Fire (2005) by author Paul Firth;[50] the title refers to the estimated time it took for the stand to be completely ablaze from the first flames being spotted. I hope you enjoy some of the fascinating stories we have here.#History #Disasters