They wouldn't let us because then people would get in the way of fire engines, ambulances and police trying to get in. 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. Only one person had been positively identified by police by early last night. You could hardly breathe. 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. 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. What Is Burning Man? I don't see that. "Some of the local residents opened their houses so people could make phone calls. He appealed to people to be patient while forensic experts identified bodies. Another player went into the office space to ensure there was nobody there. (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. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. 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. That's when everybody else had the same thought. ", 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. 2022 DECOMPRESSION WAS DREAMY . Copyright 2023 IBTimes UK. 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. More than 250 others were injured in one of the. Police worked until 4am the next morning, under lighting, to remove all the bodies. So I threw myself over the wall and luckily someone dived in to catch me before I hit the floor.". It's a nice little business and it's something positive that came out of a tragedy. Christmas Day is supposed to be happy and pleasant, a time to gather with loved ones for a chill and relaxing celebration. An inquiry launched in the aftermath of the disaster led to legislation to improve safety at football grounds. 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. 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". "[28], West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council was found to have failed in its duty under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. Yet many of those with terrible memories of the tragedy also take heart in the compassion born out of the devastation. Martin Fletcher was talking to BBC Look North. Yet in 2015, allegations surfaced which shifted the focus to the club's then chairman, Stafford Heginbotham. The scene in there was one of silence and shock. [10] The call was timed at 3:43pm. The inquiry had found that the club had been warned that the accumulation of rubbish beneath the stands was a fire risk. The fact is that no one person was concerned with the safety of the premises. 1985 disaster in Valley Parade Stadium, Bradford, England. It slipped through a hole in the floorboard. 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 game was irrelevant. 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. He agreed that the inquiry into Bradford, led by the judge Oliver Popplewell, was inadequate and that there are many unanswered questions. "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. A few minutes later, he felt a thump on his back from his father, who told him to run. 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. "[16] At the front of the stand, men threw children over the wall to help them escape. 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. [53], In 1986, a year after the disaster, Yorkshire Television aired a documentary presented by John Helm entitled Bradford City A Year of Healing. Town began to paint two years ago, first of the old Bradford Park Avenue ground, before moving onto other stadiums. It spelt out 'thank you fans'. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. The man in charge of investigating the fire, Detective Superintendent Kevin Cooper was at the game. Parents and children were laughing and joking with the police as the preliminaries to the game began. When cross examined by QC Robert Smith, then Chairman Stafford Heginbotham said he knew about the fire risk at the ground. [16] Messages of condolence were also received from Helmut Kohl, Chedli Klibi and Felipe Gonzlez. 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. The smoke was choking. 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. By the time the fire brigade arrived they were faced with huge flames and dense smoke. ", "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye. 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. His face was burned and his car, which he had parked outside the ground, was destroyed. ", IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. 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. Then flames licked the underside of the seats, which were a combination of wood and plastic. I was there in hospital for eight weeks - it felt like a lifetime. Tarpaulin fell on them and stuck to their clothes and then ignited. She was hysterical and trying to find her three children. Although I was only 12 at the time, 11 May 1985 is a day. [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. Pendleton: "I walked past a public telephone outside the ground and there were queues of people waiting to ring home to say: 'I'm OK'. 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. " Burning Man," " Burning Man Project," " Black Rock City ", and . But the sheer density of numbers coupled with the thick, choking smoke made people collapse. It was fairly clear that somebody had dropped a lighted match or cigarette between the floorboards.". Wildman: "I was dragged on to the pitch and into a line of people, who couldn't do much for themselves and were lying there. There is no malicious vendetta, there is no over-exaggeration, there are no trumped-up facts. 24 Bradford City A.F.C. [47] Scriptwriters of the play spent hours with the survivors and victims families. Bradford council introduced its emergency plans procedure yesterday to give aid to many families affected by the disaster. 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. It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernisation of many British football grounds within the following thirty years. I had to put my jumper over his hair to put the blaze out. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. The Bradford Disaster Appeal fund, set up within 48hours of the disaster, eventually raised over 3.5million (11.3million today). I ran to the stand and tried to help people escape. The playing area and stands were very basic but the ground had enough room for 18,000spectators. ", Hendrie: "We stayed in the pub for hours. 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. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". 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. Luckily, his father arrived home shortly after he did, but 30 years on, he still remembers the young woman who served him a Mars Bar and his father a coffee, who never made it out of the stadium. The stand slopes downwards from the South Parade. He was completely on fire and it looked as though he simply did not know what had happened to him.'. And the black and twisted skeleton of the burnt stand stood out in the night. It made me realise life is too short and I'm a happier person for it.". All that was left of. "It is hard to imagine how Martin and his mother have managed to cope over the last 30 years and we have always respected him," Harrison says. 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. Now they will begin another inquiry, into the cause of the Bradford 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. The Documentary highlighted the 'poison pen letters' and graffiti targeted at the then club chairman Stafford Heginbotham over accusations that he was in some way personally responsible for the deaths of the 56 people who died at the fire.[54]. Valley Parade re-opened on 14 December 1986, when Bradford City beat an England XI 21 in a friendly. Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). Spreading with almost unbelievable speed, a small fire under a wooden bench consumed the entire stand in under four minutes.Original TV footage: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x31qcmtIf you would like to support this channel - https://buymeacoffee.com/TheRavensEyeAlthough focused primarily on disasters, this channel is all about the interesting, the strange, the unsolved, the tragic. There were no fire extinguishers. "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. [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. 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. The blame was through neglect, they didn't have the money to maintain the stand. [22], Immediately after the fire, Sharpe planned and treated the injuries of over 200 individuals, with many experimental treatments being used. 527 votes, 98 comments. Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. [40] Matthew Wildman was 17 at the time and needed crutches to walk because of rheumatoid arthritis. 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. [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. [46], In 2014, the theatre company Funny You Should Ask (FYSA) premiered their heartfelt tribute to the 56 people who died at the fire. "I know it's a clich to say that, but it's true.". 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. Most of those who escaped onto the pitch were saved.[10]. However, the responsibility of the Club is, in my view, very much the greater and I apportion responsibility between the two defendants as to two-thirds on the first defendant and one-third on the third (sic) defendant. The local council was deemed to be one third responsible. 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. 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. People were arriving in a daze outside Bradford police headquarters on Saturday evening and early yesterday. "[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. He had to undergo counselling and was unable to go to another game for several years. But looking back and seeing how much it really affected my dad makes me realise what we went through." he asks. [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.