"All you could see was black cloud. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 13:41. "We went out on to the pitch and I could see so many happy faces. The fire brigade arrived at the ground four minutes after they were initially alerted. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. The game was goalless after 40 minutes when play was stopped. [10] Bradford City's coach Terry Yorath, whose family was in the stand,[19] ran onto the pitch to help evacuate people. ", On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online. [11], The fire escalated very rapidly, and flames became visible; police started to evacuate the stand. "We stayed in the pub for hours. "[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. 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. 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 . 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 fire brigade said that when heat builds up so quickly it can cause flames to move much quicker than people can walk. He agreed that the inquiry into Bradford, led by the judge Oliver Popplewell, was inadequate and that there are many unanswered questions. 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. Of the 56people who died in the fire,[2] 54 were Bradford supporters and two supported Lincoln. 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. Burning Man.NYC. "Until I arrived home my mum and my brother had no idea whether I was alive or dead. Some of those who died were still sitting upright in their seats, covered by remnants of tarpaulin that had fallen from the roof. Last updated on 10 May 201510 May 2015.From the section Football, "People didn't die because of fires at football grounds. 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. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. "[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. [16] Messages of condolence were also received from Helmut Kohl, Chedli Klibi and Felipe Gonzlez. [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. 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. "Then we ran out in our tracksuits each holding a massive card with a letter. [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. What Is Burning Man? [6] 1908 - Parker Building, New York City, January 10. He photographed the blaze from start to finish and the police will use this as evidence when an inquest is held. [48] Profits from the play's run at The Edinburgh Fringe were donated to the Bradford Burns Unit. Recommended The untold stories of the 1985 fire 'It is the worst day in my life. The government inquiry into the disaster concluded the fire spread "faster than a man could run". The Popplewell Inquiry found that the club had been warned about the fire risk that the rubbish accumulating under the stand had posed. 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. He was asked if precautions would have been adequate had the club been in the Second Division. "[28], West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council was found to have failed in its duty under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. 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]. We sat in the main stand the week before, but we had decided to move on that day," he says. We had not been told anything.". 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. "I'm sorry to spoil what is obviously a very good story, but I'm afraid it is nonsense for many reasons.". Police worked until 4am the next morning, under lighting, to remove all the bodies. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. The blame was through neglect, they didn't have the money to maintain the stand. There was hardly anything left of him.'. And the black and twisted skeleton of the burnt stand stood out in the night. "We couldn't run back down the tunnel. When the game began there was no way out for them, except by going on to the pitch. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. By the time the fire brigade arrived they were faced with huge flames and dense smoke. A few minutes later, he felt a thump on his back from his father, who told him to run. 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. 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. However as the game against Lincoln progressed, a fire began just before half-time in the stand that ran alongside the pitch. 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". They were donated by Bradford's twin city of Hamm, Germany, and are situated in front of Bradford City Hall in both locations. [10][16] More than 265 supporters were injured. 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. 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. The blaze quickly engulfed the stand as Bradford played Lincoln City and claimed the lives of 59 people on May 11, 1985. Bradford, playing into a strong wind, were struggling to break down a Lincoln side already safe from relegation. Cigarette smoking was also banned at all grounds with wooden stands. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. 56 dead and hundreds more injured. A fire at a third division match between Bradford City and Lincoln City killed 56, including 11 children, and injured hundreds more. "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". 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. "How quickly the fire spread is difficult to convey to people.". "A disaster is not black and white - it is a mass of factors.". The mood before the match on the 11 May 1985 against Lincoln City was one of jubilation. 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. Now a new film claims an Australian was responsible for the worst . "Some of the local residents opened their houses so people could make phone calls. Most of those who escaped onto the pitch were saved.[10]. 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. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. Yet in 2015, allegations surfaced which shifted the focus to the club's then chairman, Stafford Heginbotham. [19] One fan put his jumper over a fellow supporter's head to extinguish flames. The stories of escapes are legion. Town began to paint two years ago, first of the old Bradford Park Avenue ground, before moving onto other stadiums. The only fire extinguishers in the ground were in the clubroom, which is also in the main stand. More than 250 others were injured in one of the biggest disasters at a British football ground. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. When cross examined by QC Robert Smith, then Chairman Stafford Heginbotham said he knew about the fire risk at the ground. "The fire still has a big impact on people," Parker says. My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. Ironically, off-duty firemen were at the ground selling raffle tickets for a charity football match which should have been held yesterday. The whole fire seemed to erupt in seconds,' he said. "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. 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. But a minute or so later there was suddenly a bigger whoosh of smoke so they went to get a steward. An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. Like you, we're already preparing for Black Rock City to rise again. Witnesses of the fire have come to terms with the tragedy in different ways. 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. 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. Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'. Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). The fire at a Brooklyn lumber storage building sent plumes of smoke over Williamsburg on Tuesday. Valley Parade during the early 1990s, after it had been redeveloped following the fire. We use necessary cookies to make our site work. A Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund raised 3.5m for the victims and their families. ", 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. "I was operated on every other day because I had so many burns and so many areas to work on. [10] One eyewitness, Geoffrey Mitchell, told the BBC: "It spread like a flash. It took the firemen four minutes to arrive at the ground but the speed of the fire was such that the blaze also took only four minutes to grip the entire stand. "One of my most haunting images was being on the bus home after dark and going past Valley Parade. "I remember not being able to watch it, but we couldn't get out. It's a nice little business and it's something positive that came out of a tragedy. It was to be our day,' he said. 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. One man clambered over burning seats to help a fan,[18] as did player John Hawley,[15] and one officer led fans to an exit, only to find it shut and had to turn around. [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. "Several minutes before half-time I saw there was a wee bit of bother. Although some attributed Lincoln City's sudden demise to the psychological effects of the fire on its players (together with the resignation of successful manager Colin Murphy shortly before the fire), it symbolised the wider crisis that the introduction of new safety legislation brought to Lincoln's Sincil Bank home. [46], In 2014, the theatre company Funny You Should Ask (FYSA) premiered their heartfelt tribute to the 56 people who died at the fire. One retired mill worker made his way to the pitch, but was walking about on fire from head to foot. ", There has always been a close bond between the club and its supporters since the fire, he adds. Helm: "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". Criticising Bradford City during the case, Mr. Michael Ogden QC, highlighted that the Club 'gave no or very little thought to fire precautions', despite repeated warnings. As he scaled the brick perimeter wall at the front, his father stayed behind to help others escape. "I feel such information should be made public and people should look at those facts, then make their mind up on those facts. More than 250 others were injured in one of the. "That was the legacy of the tragedy. 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. The Bradford Disaster Appeal fund, set up within 48hours of the disaster, eventually raised over 3.5million (11.3million today). 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. [2] By 1911, his work was completed. 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. I had no idea. I have never had to deal with such a situation before, and this has put the city on its heels.'. "I got stuck against the wall with the weight of people behind me trying to get over. Former Bradford midfielder John Hendrie, who was playing in the match: "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. "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. [29] The Health and Safety Executive who were also part of the legal action were found to be non-liable. [34], During the case, Sir Joseph Cantley stated that: "It is only right that I should say that I think it would be unfair to conclude that Heginbotham, Tordoff, the Board of Directors, or any of them, were intentionally and callously indifferent to the safety of spectators using the stand. For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford. His son Christopher normally watches from the stand but on Saturday he joined other fans elsewhere. 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. One woman was seen running around the ground with no skin on her arms and face. 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 was an awful thing to watch.". The smoke was choking. Spreading with almost unbelievable speed, a small fire under a wooden. Those are the words of David Pendleton, a survivor of the Bradford City fire disaster, which happened 30 years ago. 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. Like all areas of forensic investigations, it has come on leaps and bounds. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. [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. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". He was helped out of the stand by other fans and spent a period of time in hospital. "We wouldn't normally have covered that game - no question about it. It spelt out 'thank you fans'. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. We were given the trophy before the game in front of the supporters and had to do a lap of honour.