"[23], On the 25th anniversary of the fire, the University of Bradford established the United Kingdom's largest academic research centre in skin sciences as an extension to its plastic surgery and burns research unit.[24]. However, when Bradford City won promotion to the highest level of English football, Division One, in 1908, club officials sanctioned an upgrade programme. Recommended The untold stories of the 1985 fire 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. Bradford City stadium fire: Remembering the 56 who died at Valley - IBT We sat in the main stand the week before, but we had decided to move on that day," he says. Supporters either ran upwards to the back of the stand or downwards to the pitch to escape. When the game began there was no way out for them, except by going on to the pitch. The Popplewell Inquiry found that the club had been warned about the fire risk that the rubbish accumulating under the stand had posed. Football architect Archibald Leitch was commissioned to carry out the work. 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. Some repair work was carried out, but in July 1984 the club was warned again, this time by a county council engineer, because of the club's plans to claim for ground improvements from the Football Trust. As the blaze spread, the wooden stands and roofcovered with layers of highly flammable bituminous roofing feltquickly went ablaze. 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 playing area and stands were very basic but the ground had enough room for 18,000spectators. [48] Profits from the play's run at The Edinburgh Fringe were donated to the Bradford Burns Unit. What Is Burning Man? Bradford City stadium fire | Football Wiki | Fandom The game was irrelevant. 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. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. After 40 minutes of the first half, fans had begun to complain about the drab match and the 0-0 score. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 13:41. [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. The Great Fire of London, 1212 | Sky HISTORY TV Channel It was clear from what the Chief Fire Officer for West Yorkshire, Mr Graham Karran, said yesterday that the ground was far from safe. 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. I looked down and I saw my hands melting. This day was for them. Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground. While Valley Parade was re-developed, Bradford City played games at various neighbouring grounds: Elland Road, Leeds; Leeds Road, Huddersfield; and Odsal Stadium, Bradford. [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. We accepted it was an accident, nobody wanted to blame the club because it was the club we wanted to support. 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. [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. It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernisation of many British football grounds within the following thirty years. Survival Guide 2022 Bits of my arms, bits of my legs, part of my face, part of my scalp. His face was burned and his car, which he had parked outside the ground, was destroyed. 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. [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. 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 Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund raised 3.5m for the victims and their families. As many supporters still required rescue from the stand, they were unable to immediately start fighting the source of the fire. "Until I arrived home my mum and my brother had no idea whether I was alive or dead. 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. 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. Bradford City stadium fire. A football match in Bradford UK ends Fifty-six people died. All existing grandstands deemed fire risks were faced with immediate closure. 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 don't see that. 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). He had to undergo counselling and was unable to go to another game for several years. Many were burnt to death at the turnstiles gates, which had also been locked after the match had begun. Burning Man - Wikipedia And all you could smell was burning.". The Bradford City Stadium Fire 1985 - The Football Inferno 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. The fire brigade said that when heat builds up so quickly it can cause flames to move much quicker than people can walk. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. Bradford City stadium fire disaster remembered - BBC Sport There was some kind of disturbance near the edge of a block of seats in the G section of the main stand. At Valley Parade there are now two memorials. After the fire, Bradford City also announced they would thereafter play with a black trim on their shirt sleeves as a permanent memorial to those who had died. At the time, however, Harrison says, Bradford just wanted to move on. 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. [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. "[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. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". Witnesses of the fire have come to terms with the tragedy in different ways. Mike Harrison, the editor of the Bradford City Football Club fanzine The City Gent, was there on the day. As he scaled the brick perimeter wall at the front, his father stayed behind to help others escape. (2015), 2003 Football League Third Division play-off final, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bradford_City_stadium_fire&oldid=1141323458, Fire disasters involving barricaded escape routes, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2021, Articles needing additional references from May 2018, All articles needing additional references, Articles needing additional references from December 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Fan attempted to extinguish a lit cigarette, it slipped through floorboards and fell on rubbish, igniting it. Valley Parade during the early 1990s, after it had been redeveloped following the fire. 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. I was there in hospital for eight weeks - it felt like a lifetime. Only one person had been positively identified by police by early last night. 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. The Man burns on September 02, 2023. "We couldn't run back down the tunnel. "That's when I thought 'this is time to get out of here'. There were no fire extinguishers. An inquiry launched in the aftermath of the disaster led to legislation to improve safety at football grounds. The local council was deemed to be one third responsible. The entrances to the stand were all at the rear and were higher than the rest of the ground. ", There has always been a close bond between the club and its supporters since the fire, he adds. [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. "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. Town began to paint two years ago, first of the old Bradford Park Avenue ground, before moving onto other stadiums. He asks the reader to make their mind up about whether these fires were a coincidence or not.". Other parents whose children had not arrived home on Saturday called at the police station or sat in cars outside, waiting for news. [6] 1908 - Parker Building, New York City, January 10. 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.. Fifty-six people were killed, 265 were injured and thousands bore witness to the worst fire disaster in the history of English football. [10] The stand seats did not have risers; this had allowed a large accumulation of rubbish and paper waste in the cavity space under the stand, which had not been cleared for many months. Most of those who escaped onto the pitch were saved.[10]. We had not been told anything.". People pushed him to the ground and tried to smother the flames. Since then, it has been further re-developed and, today, Valley Parade is a modern 25,136 all-seater stadium, which is virtually unrecognisable from how it was at the time of the disaster, save for the original clubhouse that still stands beside the main stand, and the flank support wall that runs down the Hollywell Ash Lane at the "Bradford End". I had to put my jumper over his hair to put the blaze out. That's when everybody else had the same thought. Like you, we're already preparing for Black Rock City to rise again. [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. The plastic surgeon who treated the injuries of over 200, Professor David Sharpe, went on to set up a world-renowned burns research facility at the University of Bradford. 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. "For the first minute people were laughing and joking, it wasn't anything serious. 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'. 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. [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. Crowds on the pitch at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium after the stand caught fire, Bradford City fans pay tribute to the 56 fans who died the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985, The blaze causing the deaths of 56 supporters in one of the worst incidents in British football, Bradford artist Paul Town was inspired to paint after surviving the Valley Parade fire, Stay up to date with our daily newsletter, New book claims fatal 1985 Bradford City Valley Parade fire might have been started deliberately, Bradford City chairman 'linked to eight fires' before Valley Parade stadium disaster, Bradford City 0-0 Reading: Bantams hold Royals in quarter-final stalemate, David Alaba receives massive abuse for voting for Lionel Messi in The Best awards, Glazers' demands set to delay Manchester United takeover: reports, Man Utd beat West Ham to reach FA Cup quarters as Spurs crash out, Bahrain GP: F1 team rankings ahead of 2023 season-opener, Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Xavi admits Los Blancos still favourites to advance. But a minute or so later there was suddenly a bigger whoosh of smoke so they went to get a steward. 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 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. "[33], Central to the test case were two letters sent to Bradford City's Club Secretary by the West Yorkshire Fire Brigade; the second letter dated 18 July 1984 specifically highlighted in full the improvements needed to be actioned at the ground as well as the fire risk at the main stand. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. You may notice some big changes in Black Rock City this year. But looking back and seeing how much it really affected my dad makes me realise what we went through." "I walked past a public telephone outside the ground and there were queues of people waiting to ring home to say: 'I'm OK'. 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. Radiated heat from the burning roof of the stand set fire to the clothing of fans trapped underneath. 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. More than 250 others were injured in one of the. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. The inquiry had found that the club had been warned that the accumulation of rubbish beneath the stands was a fire risk. 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. The fire destroyed the main stand completely and left only burned seats, lamps and metal fences remaining. "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. 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. 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. It slipped through a hole in the floorboard. Exactly 79 years to the day after the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, another tragic fire occurred in New York City. He was helped out of the stand by other fans and spent a period of time in hospital. He photographed the blaze from start to finish and the police will use this as evidence when an inquest is held. "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. The match was recorded by Yorkshire Television for their regional edition of the ITV Sunday afternoon football show The Big Match. Twenty nine years ago on this date, 56 people tragically died when a fire erupted at Bradford City's Valley Parade ground The day was supposed to be one of celebration for Bradford who had just won the Third Division trophy. He was asked if precautions would have been adequate had the club been in the Second Division. ", IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. 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. Sir Oliver Popplewell, the High Court judge who led the Valley Parade inquiry in 1985: "The scene when I arrived was horrendous. 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. 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. Pendleton: "I got pushed down to the front and I remember looking around and suddenly this smouldering, small fire had taken over virtually half a block and was starting to hit the roof. People smothered him to extinguish the flames, but he later died of his injuries in hospital. There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". [31] In 1988, the first compensation payments were made to survivors of the fire, with over 40 people receiving up to 40,000 each. The smoke was choking. A new book, written by Valley Parade survivor Martin Fletcher, claims then-Bradford City chairman Stafford Heginbotham had previously netted millions of pounds from insurance payouts after at least eight previous fires at businesses he was associated with. Guided by the values expressed by the 10 Principles, Burning Man is a global ecosystem of artists, makers, and community organizers who co-create art, events, and local initiatives around the world. Cigarette smoking was also banned at all grounds with wooden stands. 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. She was an. "It is unbelievable how quickly the fire took hold. 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. [10] Bradford City's coach Terry Yorath, whose family was in the stand,[19] ran onto the pitch to help evacuate people. [16] Messages of condolence were also received from Helmut Kohl, Chedli Klibi and Felipe Gonzlez. It was during this treatment that Sharpe began to develop the Bradford Sling,[21] which applies even pressure across sensitive areas. Some of the dead were found at the bottom of these steps. People had walked through turnstiles and along a wooden corridor before descending the steps into their seats. A police officer shouted to a colleague for an extinguisher, but his call was misheard and instead the fire brigade were radioed. We use necessary cookies to make our site work. Spreading with almost unbelievable speed, a small fire under a wooden. Christmas Day is supposed to be happy and pleasant, a time to gather with loved ones for a chill and relaxing celebration. Bradford City Stadium Fire - Saturday 11th May 1985 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. 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. 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. 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. "One of my most haunting images was being on the bus home after dark and going past Valley Parade. It is a simple account laid out for all to see. "The referee blew his whistle to stop the game and told us to get back to the dressing room.". 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. 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. It was the brainchild of Bradford City fan Lloyd Spencer with all profits going to the Bradford Royal Infirmary Burns Unit.[43]. 1908 - Collinwood school fire, in Collinwood, Ohio (soon absorbed by Cleveland ), on March 4, killed 175. People who had escaped the fire then tried to assist their fellow supporters. ", "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye.
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