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? "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". There was some kind of disturbance near the edge of a block of seats in the G section of the main stand. Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'. There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". "We couldn't run back down the tunnel. Of the 56 people who died in the fire,[2] 54 were Bradford supporters and two supported Lincoln. He started to walk home, unsure of what had happened to his father. Fifty-six people died. [40] Matthew Wildman was 17 at the time and needed crutches to walk because of rheumatoid arthritis. All you could hear was sirens and screams. They were at fault, but the fault was that no-one in authority seems ever to have properly appreciated the real gravity of this fire hazard and consequently no-one gave it the attention it certainly ought to have received. 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. Hendrie: "Several minutes before half-time I saw there was a wee bit of bother. The 1985 Bradford City Football Stadium Fire What Happened and Why My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. 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. I had no idea. More than 250 others were injured in one of the. You may notice some big changes in Black Rock City this year. [8], The Bradford City matchday squad of players and staff consisted of Terry Yorath, Trevor Cherry, Chris Withe, Don Goodman, Eric McManus, Tony Clegg, John Hawley, Dave Evans, Bryan Edwards, John Hendrie, Mark Ellis, Stuart McCall, Peter Jackson, Bobby Campbell, Martin Singleton and Greg Abbott. Website by, Bradford City FC stadium fire | 11th May 1985, Fundraising for firefighters and their families. [10] Bradford City's coach Terry Yorath, whose family was in the stand,[19] ran onto the pitch to help evacuate people. The 1985 Bradford City Stadium fire remembered - IFSEC Global 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. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. [58] Following this report, Leslie Brownlie, who was the nephew in question, is reported to have said that his uncle never made such an admission of starting the fire. 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. It was a gruesome sight to see bodies still sitting upright in their seats, covered in tarpaulin. [19] One fan put his jumper over a fellow supporter's head to extinguish flames. People ran onto the pitch with their clothes on fire while others were trapped at the back of the stand where they had gone to try to escape through the turnstiles. "I feel such information should be made public and people should look at those facts, then make their mind up on those facts. Lincoln City chairman Bob Dorrian, centre, is joined by Former Imps Players Association chairman Trevor Swinburne, left, and chairman of the Red Imps. Radiated heat from the burning roof of the stand set fire to the clothing of fans trapped underneath. 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. [8][10] Three men smashed down one door and at least one exit was opened by people outside, which again helped prevent further deaths. [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. Those are the words of David Pendleton, a survivor of the Bradford City fire disaster, which happened 30 years ago. He was helped out of the stand by other fans and spent a period of time in hospital. People pushed him to the ground and tried to smother the flames. "It is unbelievable how quickly the fire took hold. 'It is the worst day in my life. [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. 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. There was hardly anything left of him.'. The blaze is believed to have begun when a dropped cigarette lit rubbish under the wooden seats of the wooden Main Stand at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium Then the flames and smoke were all over the place.'. "I got stuck against the wall with the weight of people behind me trying to get over. When the game began there was no way out for them, except by going on to the pitch. [14] It took less than four minutes for the entire stand to be engulfed in flames.[11]. I'd seen the film on the Saturday but the bleakness of the stadium burnt out, and the gloom that afflicted everybody, was dreadful. This included the banning of new wooden grandstands at all sports venues in the UK. The next day work began on clearing the burnt out shell of the stand, and Justice Popplewell released his findings into the disaster. "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. People who had escaped the fire then tried to assist their fellow supporters. The speed at which fire engulfs the entire stand is insane. All Rights Reserved. Martin Fletcher was talking to BBC Look North. More than 200 people were taken to hospital, many with terrible injuries. We had not been told anything.". The fire at a Brooklyn lumber storage building sent plumes of smoke over Williamsburg on Tuesday. Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). Samuel Firth, a founder of the supporters' club, was the oldest victim at 86; four 11-year-old boys were the youngest. 56 dead and hundreds more injured. It transpired that the wooden stand had already been condemned and was set to be demolished just two days after the tragedy. Eight fires in the 18 years before the Bradford City fire were identified, many catastrophic and leading to large insurance payouts. We wanted to record the trophy presentation. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. I don't see that. Today marks the 35th anniversary of one of the worst disasters in the history of British football. [10] The call was timed at 3:43pm. 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. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". 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. It remains to be seen whether a new investigation will take place. Burning Man.NYC. The firemen who arrived there were met by a wall of flame and dense black smoke. I have never had to deal with such a situation before, and this has put the city on its heels.'. And the black and twisted skeleton of the burnt stand stood out in the night. A few minutes later, he felt a thump on his back from his father, who told him to run. The game was irrelevant.". The wooden roof that burned was scheduled to be replaced by a steel roof later that same . "As well as those who lost their lives or were injured, there are the relatives and friends, the others who were at the game, and those who would normally have gone to the match but decided not to that day. It was fairly clear that somebody had dropped a lighted match or cigarette between the floorboards.". Bradford City Stadium Fire - 36 years ago today | RedCafe.net "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. 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. For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford. The scene in there was one of silence and shock. [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 only fire extinguishers in the ground were in the clubroom, which is also in the main stand. 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'. 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. Hendrie: "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. The Bradford Disaster Appeal fund, set up within 48hours of the disaster, eventually raised over 3.5million (11.3million today). Tarpaulin fell on them and stuck to their clothes and then ignited. The Great Fire of London, 1212 | Sky HISTORY TV Channel 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. 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]. But looking back and seeing how much it really affected my dad makes me realise what we went through." [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. 48,785 Location Lake Jonathan Creek The footage never gets any less shocking. Some of those who died were still sitting upright in their seats, covered by remnants of tarpaulin that had fallen from the roof. They wouldn't let us because then people would get in the way of fire engines, ambulances and police trying to get in. 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. Last edited: May 11, 2021 May 11, 2019 #2 JohnnyKills Full Member Joined Jan 8, 2016 Messages 6,902 Yeah footage is horrendous isn't it. 199 Bradford City Stadium Fire Photos and Premium High Res Pictures By the time they got back, the whole thing had taken off. 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. "The referee blew his whistle to stop the game and told us to get back to the dressing room.". 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. ", On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online. The blaze quickly engulfed the stand as Bradford played Lincoln City and claimed the lives of 59 people on May 11, 1985. The stand had no perimeter fencing to keep fans from accessing the pitch, thus averting an instance of crush asphyxia as in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. We didn't know how serious it was.". The blame was through neglect, they didn't have the money to maintain the stand. The Bradford way was keep it to ourselves - it worked collectively that we did that. [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. My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. [12] The work was expected to cost 400,000 (1.3million today). Wildman: "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. The money raised from this record was contributed to fund the internationally renowned burns unit that was established in partnership between the University of Bradford and Bradford Royal Infirmary, immediately after the fire, which has also been Bradford City's official charity for well over a decade. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured.