Like all areas of forensic investigations, it has come on leaps and bounds. The firemen who arrived there were met by a wall of flame and dense black smoke. [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. Within 48 hours of the disaster, the Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund had been set up and would eventually raise over 3.5m ($5.4m). 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. [14] It took less than four minutes for the entire stand to be engulfed in flames.[11]. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. ", IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. Many who had walked out of the fire stood on the pitch looking back in horror as the flames destroyed the stand. [17], One witness saw paper or debris on fire, about nine inches (230mm) below the floor boards. The scene in there was one of silence and shock. 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. 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]. "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. 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. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. People smothered him to extinguish the flames, but he later died of his injuries in hospital. The Bradford Burns Unit was set up by Professor David Sharpe after he received many of the victims following the fire. There is a twin memorial sculpture, unveiled on 11 May 1986, which has the names of the dead inscribed on it. People were falling on to each other and screaming. 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. [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. After 40 minutes of the first half, fans had begun to complain about the drab match and the 0-0 score. However, when Bradford City won promotion to the highest level of English football, Division One, in 1908, club officials sanctioned an upgrade programme. 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 brigade arrived at the ground four minutes after they were initially alerted. There were queues of people outside houses, which obviously wouldn't happen nowadays. [45] In total, 28 police officers and 22 supporters, who were publicly documented as having saved at least one life, later received police commendations or bravery awards. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. When Town reached the Midland Road side of the pitch, he was faced with horrific scenes of the injured being treated and comforted by ambulance crews, fans and players. "We stayed in the pub for hours. [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. 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. 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. 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. [11], The disaster also had a long-lasting effect on the fans. It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernisation of many British football grounds within the following thirty years. Lincoln City chairman Bob Dorrian, centre, is joined by Former Imps Players Association chairman Trevor Swinburne, left, and chairman of the Red Imps. People were arriving in a daze outside Bradford police headquarters on Saturday evening and early yesterday. It was fairly clear that somebody had dropped a lighted match or cigarette between the floorboards.". The whole fire seemed to erupt in seconds,' he said. I don't know where Falconer is getting this cock-and-bull story from the inaccuracies in this report [documentary] are dumbfounding. "[28], West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council was found to have failed in its duty under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. [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 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. Supporters either ran upwards to the back of the stand or downwards to the pitch to escape. Artist Paul Town, who now lives in Baildon, was 15 at the time of the fire. We were sat in our football kit, we didn't know what to do. Copyright 2023 IBTimes UK. The scene in there was one of silence and shock. 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. [5] However, he also warned the club of a build-up of litter beneath the stand because of a gap between the seats. It was a gruesome sight to see bodies still sitting upright in their seats, covered in tarpaulin. "[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. [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. Tarpaulin fell on them and stuck to their clothes and then ignited. An inquiry launched in the aftermath of the disaster led to legislation to improve safety at football grounds. Two or three burly men put their weight against it and smashed the gate open. One elderly man started to walk across the pitch with his clothes and face ablaze. I had no idea. I rolled over on my head, jumped up and ran off.". [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. [40] Matthew Wildman was 17 at the time and needed crutches to walk because of rheumatoid arthritis. [1] When the association football club was formed, the ground was changed very little and had no covered accommodation. "That was the legacy of the tragedy. "Several minutes before half-time I saw there was a wee bit of bother. Hundreds more telephoned the police to try to trace relatives. Of the 56people who died in the fire,[2] 54 were Bradford supporters and two supported Lincoln. 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. The fire brigade said that when heat builds up so quickly it can cause flames to move much quicker than people can walk. 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 happened during a football match. More than 3,500 people were crammed into the main stand area and this prevented people from moving away from the blaze quickly. 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. Football architect Archibald Leitch was commissioned to carry out the work. It was nearly double the season's average of 6,610 and included 3,000fans in the ground's main stand. More than 250 others were injured in one of the. 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. By the time they got back, the whole thing had taken off. [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. I have never had to deal with such a situation before, and this has put the city on its heels.'. 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. Samuel Firth, a founder of the supporters' club, was the oldest victim at 86; four 11-year-old boys were the youngest. ", On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online. 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. We were sat in our football kit, we didn't know what to do. 'The smoke was very, very dense. It was sort of the good thing to come out of the nightmare," says Simon Parker, a football reporter for the Telegraph and Argus. 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. Fletcher said that "The club at the time took no actual responsibility for its actions and nobody has ever really been held accountable for the level of negligence which took place. Representatives from the fire brigade were due to go to the club tomorrow to inspect it and see whether regulations were being observed. The inquiry had found that the club had been warned that the accumulation of rubbish beneath the stands was a fire risk. 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?. Bradford City initially prospered in the Second Division only missing out on promotion to the First Division in 1988 after failing to beat Ipswich Town at home on the final day of their first full season back at Valley Parade. I don't see that. Valley Parade in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was built in 1886 and was initially the home ground of Manningham Rugby Football Club. 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. Bradford council introduced its emergency plans procedure yesterday to give aid to many families affected by the disaster. She was hysterical and trying to find her three children. We sat in the main stand the week before, but we had decided to move on that day," he says. And all you could smell was burning.". 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. ', Sports reporters covering the game also spoke of the disaster. An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. The match was recorded by Yorkshire Television for their regional edition of the ITV Sunday afternoon football show The Big Match. People who had escaped the fire then tried to assist their fellow supporters. There is no malicious vendetta, there is no over-exaggeration, there are no trumped-up facts. 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". Mr Tony Delahunte, who was presenting a programme from the ground for Pennine Radio, said 'The fire seemed to me to start with a smoke bomb. 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. Speculation an Australian man started the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 IT killed 56 people and destroyed an entire stadium. However as the game against Lincoln progressed, a fire began just before half-time in the stand that ran alongside the pitch. 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". 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 fact is that no one person was concerned with the safety of the premises. [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. "[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. "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. 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. Stadium disasters have blighted the world of sport throughout modern history. [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. There were no fire extinguishers. I had no idea. [10] Bradford City's coach Terry Yorath, whose family was in the stand,[19] ran onto the pitch to help evacuate people. The Man burns on September 02, 2023. [53], In 1986, a year after the disaster, Yorkshire Television aired a documentary presented by John Helm entitled Bradford City A Year of Healing. He is quoted as saying: "I don't believe the statement of retired Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer at all. Recommended The untold stories of the 1985 fire The timber construction of St. Andrew's Stand, Main Stand and the roof of its popular Railway End terrace were immediately condemned as fire hazards, which saw seating capacity briefly cut to nil. A police officer shouted to a colleague for an extinguisher, but his call was misheard and instead the fire brigade were radioed. They wouldn't let us because then people would get in the way of fire engines, ambulances and police trying to get in. [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. 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. Eight fires in the 18 years before the Bradford City fire were identified, many catastrophic and leading to large insurance payouts. "It is unbelievable how quickly the fire took hold. "[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. It was unprecedented.". "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 13:41. 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. It is repeated across the country on BBC Two at 23:20 BST on Wednesday, 13 May. [27], Explaining his decision, Sir Joseph Cantley stated: "As I have already stated, the primary duty was on the Club and the functions of the County Council were supervisory and its liability is for negligent breach of a common law duty arising out of the way in which they dealt with or ignored their statutory powers. I had to put my jumper over his hair to put the blaze out. The 51 other bodies of children, women and men were so badly burned that identification will take many days. 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. "[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]. Police officers also assisted in the rescue attempts. 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. I hope you enjoy some of the fascinating stories we have here.#History #Disasters England won the re-match 64. I've never seen anything like it. Helm: "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". 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. 527 votes, 98 comments. For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford. "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. [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. 'It is the worst day in my life. 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. They stood outside the headquarters, staring at nothing in particular. Like you, we're already preparing for Black Rock City to rise again. "As a 15-year-old, you don't really know how much of an impact an event like that will have on your life," Town says. 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. [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 slipped through a hole in the floorboard. It made me realise life is too short and I'm a happier person for it.". 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. 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. "For the first minute people were laughing and joking, it wasn't anything serious. The blaze, at the Happy Land Social Club in the Bronx, killed 87 people, the . 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. 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. However, there is a lot in this book that troubles me about the science, or lack of it, used in the testing of the investigators' hypothesis as to the source of the ignition. "I'm sorry to spoil what is obviously a very good story, but I'm afraid it is nonsense for many reasons.". 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. 2022 DECOMPRESSION WAS DREAMY . We wanted to record the trophy presentation. Christmas Day is supposed to be happy and pleasant, a time to gather with loved ones for a chill and relaxing celebration. 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. 1909 - Flores Theater fire, Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, on February 15, killed 250. The disaster led to rigid new safety standards in UK stadiums, including the banning of new wooden grandstands. Soon they were all running for their lives. [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. Footage of the accident at this point shows levels of confusion among the spectatorswhile many were trying to escape or to cross the pitch to the relative safety of the neighbouring stands, other spectators were observed cheering or waving to the still-rolling pitchside cameras.
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