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Then flames licked the underside of the seats, which were a combination of wood and plastic. Within 48 hours of the disaster, the Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund had been set up and would eventually raise over 3.5m ($5.4m). [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. The chairman of the football club, Mr Stafford Heginbotham, was near to tears as he explained what had happened. Steel was to be installed in the roof,[8] and the wooden terracing was to be replaced with concrete. 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. Football architect Archibald Leitch was commissioned to carry out the work. Those are the words of David Pendleton, a survivor of the Bradford City fire disaster, which happened 30 years ago. Some of the dead were found at the bottom of these steps. Bradford City stadium fire: The untold stories of the 1985 fire that devastated Valley Parade Thirty years after football's 'forgotten tragedy', the truth of what exactly happened when 56. [10][16] Geoffrey Mitchell said: "There was panic as fans stampeded to an exit which was padlocked. And all you could smell was burning.". Eight fires in the 18 years before the Bradford City fire were identified, many catastrophic and leading to large insurance payouts. I had to put my jumper over his hair to put the blaze out. The 1984-85 season had been one of the most successful in Bradford City's 82-year history. [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. The man we see at 7:50 walking out onto the pitch on fire was a retired mill worker. 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. Other parents whose children had not arrived home on Saturday called at the police station or sat in cars outside, waiting for news. This included the banning of new wooden grandstands at all sports venues in the UK. It was during this treatment that Sharpe began to develop the Bradford Sling,[21] which applies even pressure across sensitive areas. Keep an eye out as you ride your bike through the city you will see a new solar-powered Man, fewer gas and . 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'. [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. Like all areas of forensic investigations, it has come on leaps and bounds. Bradford City continues to support the burns unit at the University of Bradford as its official charity. It was later established that the blaze was caused by a fan who went to put his cigarette out but dropped it between the floorboards onto a pile of rubbish that had been building up below. 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. "A lot of investigative work had been done by the police when I got there. 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.. ", Hendrie: "We stayed in the pub for hours. Warnings had been issued over the ground's antiquated wooden structure, which had been condemned and was due to be pulled down and replaced with steel and concrete. [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. People were clambering over the wall on to the ground with their clothes and hair on fire. The game was goalless after 40 minutes when play was stopped. From 50 to 60 yards away, it was burning our faces it was unbearable. The mood before the match on the 11 May 1985 against Lincoln City was one of jubilation. [10][16] More than 265 supporters were injured. Tarpaulin fell on them and stuck to their clothes and then ignited. Police removed the last body from the ground at 4 am yesterday, working under arc lights. "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. [4], Although there had been some changes to other parts of the ground, the main stand remained unaltered by 1985. Someone came in and shouted: 'Get out, get out there's a fire'. [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. Martin Fletcher was talking to BBC Look North. "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. Many who had walked out of the fire stood on the pitch looking back in horror as the flames destroyed the stand. 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. Television cameras spotted the outbreak of fire in Valley Parade's main stand at 15:40 BST. Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'. Just look at how many people were standing around just 50-60 meters away from the blazing inferno. But the sheer density of numbers coupled with the thick, choking smoke made people collapse. The smoke was choking. Led by former England international Trevor Cherry, the Bantams won only their third divisional title and earned a return to the second tier of English football for the first time since 1937. All existing grandstands deemed fire risks were faced with immediate closure. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. Heginbotham died in 1995, aged 61, and was never prosecuted for the stadium fire, despite the coroner later saying he had given serious consideration to bringing a charge of manslaughter as the club had failed to act on three separate warnings about a potential fire risk. Interviews conducted by BBC Radio Leeds' Tim Daley. [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. [47] Scriptwriters of the play spent hours with the survivors and victims families. Treatment of casualties and Burns Research Unit, Dramatisations, documentaries and published works, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council, Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of accidents and disasters by death toll, List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll, "Hideous images linger after carnage of 'celebration' day", "Caught in Time: Bradford City win the Third Division, 1985", "EXCLUSIVE: Bradford's Valley Parade fire must be remembered like Hillsborough", "History of The Bradford Sling The Bradford Sling", "Bradford City football stadium blaze surgeon honoured", "Research centre to be living memorial to Bradford City FC fire disaster", "The Papers of the Popplewell Inquiry into Crowd Safety at Sports Grounds", "Popplewell Inquiry Bradford City Fire", "Bradford remembered: The unheeded warnings that led to tragedy", Joseph Canley summing up statement from test case court transcripts, Newspaper report from Sport and the Law April 21st 1989, "The Glasgow Herald Google News Archive Search", Los Angeles Times report on Bradford City test case findings, Court transcript from the test case brought by Susan Fletcher and Others against Bradford City and Others, "Bradford fire survivor attacks judge over Hillsborough comments", "The Story of the Bradford Fire: 'could any man really be as unlucky as Stafford Heginbotham? 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. We had to run up the stairs, through the office doors and out on to the street. [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. Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground. It wasn't until later on when assistant manager Terry Yorath came in and said: 'It's not good.'". We didn't know how serious it was.". My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. Former Bradford midfielder John Hendrie, who was playing in the match: "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. "[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. "A disaster is not black and white - it is a mass of factors.". [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. "All you could see was black cloud. 1985 disaster in Valley Parade Stadium, Bradford, England. [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. The stand had been officially condemned and was due to be replaced with a steel structure after the season ended. The stories of escapes are legion. 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. The fire started five minutes before half-time during the match on 11 May between Bradford and Lincoln City. "[16] At the front of the stand, men threw children over the wall to help them escape. 1909 - Flores Theater fire, Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, on February 15, killed 250. Christmas Day is supposed to be happy and pleasant, a time to gather with loved ones for a chill and relaxing celebration. We had not been told anything.". The fire at a Brooklyn lumber storage building sent plumes of smoke over Williamsburg on Tuesday. Police had an official photographer at the game, watching for crowd disturbance. 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. He is quoted as saying: "I don't believe the statement of retired Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer at all. 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. [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. Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). What Is Burning Man? Two or three burly men put their weight against it and smashed the gate open. 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. We sat in the main stand the week before, but we had decided to move on that day," he says. Videos, gifs, or aftermath photos of machinery, structures, or devices Lincoln City chairman Bob Dorrian, centre, is joined by Former Imps Players Association chairman Trevor Swinburne, left, and chairman of the Red Imps. By the time they got back, the whole thing had taken off. "How quickly the fire spread is difficult to convey to people.". People who had escaped the fire then tried to assist their fellow supporters. There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". 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. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 13:41. It is a simple account laid out for all to see. So I decided to give it that next push. The blaze, at the Happy Land Social Club in the Bronx, killed 87 people, the . The smoke was choking. "I parked my van outside because I started making enough money painting as I was in construction. "We wouldn't normally have covered that game - no question about it. There were many cases of heroism, with more than 50 people later receiving police awards or commendations for bravery. But I've never spoken to anyone who thought the fire wasn't anything other than a tragic accident. 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. The Bradford Burns Unit was set up by Professor David Sharpe after he received many of the victims following the fire. People had walked through turnstiles and along a wooden corridor before descending the steps into their seats. [8][10] Three men smashed down one door and at least one exit was opened by people outside, which again helped prevent further deaths. ", IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. "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 heat inside the stand literally ignited people where they stood. 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. Soon they were all running for their lives. Speculation an Australian man started the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 IT killed 56 people and destroyed an entire stadium. Today, locals continue to raise money for the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit in memory of the victims of the fire. It is impossible so far to be accurate about the precise cause of the fire, with grossly conflicting reports from witnesses. It was an awful thing to watch.". And then suddenly, in the space of 120-odd seconds, it really kicked in. One man in tears said: 'He looked as if he was just going for a stroll. The match between Bradford City and Lincoln City, the final game of that season, had started in a celebratory atmosphere with the home team receiving the Third Division championship trophy. "I've always loved art but I owned businesses in construction so I've never had the time or a chance to follow it up," he says. People smothered him to extinguish the flames, but he later died of his injuries in hospital. 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. 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. I don't know where Falconer is getting this cock-and-bull story from the inaccuracies in this report [documentary] are dumbfounding. "I remember not being able to watch it, but we couldn't get out. One retired mill worker made his way to the pitch, but was walking about on fire from head to foot. The 51 other bodies of children, women and men were so badly burned that identification will take many days. We wanted to record the trophy presentation. [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. Valley Parade in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was built in 1886 and was initially the home ground of Manningham Rugby Football Club. As a result, Bradford-born captain Peter Jackson was presented with the league trophy before the final game of the season with mid-table Lincoln City at Valley Parade on 11 May 1985. People were arriving in a daze outside Bradford police headquarters on Saturday evening and early yesterday. Copyright , Fire Brigades Union, 2023. At the final home match against Barnsley at the end of April, Bradford City fans collected more than 8,000 in a bucket collection. 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. 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. "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. Some days I had two operations in a day. Most Bradfordians have accepted the fire was a terrible misfortune. Those who rescued people were themselves burned in the process. 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. He later said: "I have never known anything like it, either before, or since. It made me realise life is too short and I'm a happier person for it.". 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. This day was for them. [13], The match kicked off at 3:04pm and after forty minutes of the first half, the score remained 00,[14] in what was described as a drab affair with neither team threatening to score. [22], Immediately after the fire, Sharpe planned and treated the injuries of over 200 individuals, with many experimental treatments being used. The 4-alarm fire started in a one-story lumber storage building and spread to an adjacent building . "I feel such information should be made public and people should look at those facts, then make their mind up on those facts. "[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. The fire brigade arrived at the ground four minutes after they were initially alerted. 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. "Me and my dad eventually got out safely but it was a bit of a struggle at one point because the walls getting down to the pitch level were quite high I didn't get a growth spurt until I was 16 or 17.". 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. The Bradford City stadium fire occurred during a Football League Third Division match on Saturday, 11 May 1985 at the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, killing 56 spectators and injuring at least 265. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. [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. There were no fire extinguishers. Others ran forward to try to clamber over a fence and a small wall on to the pitch. A police officer shouted to a colleague for an extinguisher, but his call was misheard and instead the fire brigade were radioed. 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.