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It wasn't until later on when assistant manager Terry Yorath came in and said: 'It's not good.'". Recommended The untold stories of the 1985 fire "It is unbelievable how quickly the fire took hold. 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. An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. Spreading with almost unbelievable speed, a small fire under a wooden. Soon they were all running for their lives. [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. Burning Man NYC The stand slopes downwards from the South Parade. Mike Harrison, the editor of the Bradford City Football Club fanzine The City Gent, was there on the day. The disaster led to rigid new safety standards in UK stadiums, including the banning of new wooden grandstands. 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. 199 Bradford City Stadium Fire Photos and Premium High Res Pictures 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. His face was burned and his car, which he had parked outside the ground, was destroyed. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. "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 a gruesome sight to see bodies still sitting upright in their seats, covered in tarpaulin. Since 1903, when the club was formed, Bradford City Association Football Club had played their home games at the ground. All existing grandstands deemed fire risks were faced with immediate closure. "I feel such information should be made public and people should look at those facts, then make their mind up on those facts. And then suddenly, in the space of 120-odd seconds, it really kicked in. A Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund raised 3.5m for the victims and their families. You could hardly breathe. 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. It transpired that the wooden stand had already been condemned and was set to be demolished just two days after the tragedy. "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". He started to walk home, unsure of what had happened to his father. A giant Christian cross, made up of two large charred wooden members[44] that had once been part of the stand, was constructed in front of the middle of the stand and behind the pitchside speaker's platform. The government inquiry into the disaster concluded the fire spread "faster than a man could run". We didn't know how serious it was.". Bradford City stadium fire. A football match in Bradford UK ends ", 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. "A disaster is not black and white - it is a mass of factors.". [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. At the final home match against Barnsley at the end of April, Bradford City fans collected more than 8,000 in a bucket collection. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. "[55], Adams also went on to state that "I have read in some newspapers that he is being berated for his campaign to have a new inquiry. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. There were queues of people outside houses, which obviously wouldn't happen nowadays. 'The smoke was very, very dense. The smoke was choking. My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. We accepted it was an accident, nobody wanted to blame the club because it was the club we wanted to support. 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. 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. 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. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. Instead it turned into a day of appalling tragedy. I hope you enjoy some of the fascinating stories we have here.#History #Disasters "[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 agreed that the inquiry into Bradford, led by the judge Oliver Popplewell, was inadequate and that there are many unanswered questions. 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. Stories From 11 May. [6] 1908 - Parker Building, New York City, January 10. "I was supposed to meet my father at my grandfather's house, but I was a bit late so I went straight to the game so I didn't miss the festivities.". Speculation an Australian man started the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 IT killed 56 people and destroyed an entire stadium. Although I was only 12 at the time, 11 May 1985 is a day. What Is Burning Man? | Burning Man 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. 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. [7] As it was the first piece of league silverware that the club had captured since they won the Division Three (North) title 56years earlier, 11,076supporters were in the ground. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. The game was irrelevant.". The blaze quickly engulfed the stand as Bradford played Lincoln City and claimed the lives of 59 people on May 11, 1985. He appealed to people to be patient while forensic experts identified bodies. ", IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said. Bradford City were supposed to be celebrating on 11 May 1985. Of the 56 people who died in the fire,[2] 54 were Bradford supporters and two supported Lincoln. [12] The work was expected to cost 400,000 (1.3million today). ", ITV football commentator John Helm, who provided live commentary of the unfolding disaster across the nation: "We wouldn't normally have covered that game - no question about it. 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. By this date the appeal fund set up for survivors had paid out more than 4m with further payouts expected as the effects of physical and mental injury were determined. Some days I had two operations in a day. Supporters either ran upwards to the back of the stand or downwards to the pitch to escape. 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 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. 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. Someone came in and shouted: 'Get out, get out there's a fire'. Fire disaster at football match (Bradford City stadium fire) It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernisation of many British football grounds within the following thirty years. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 13:41. Pendleton: "One of my most haunting images was being on the bus home after dark and going past Valley Parade. 1985: Fans killed in Bradford stadium fire. Original television coverage of the fire, as caught by cameras covering the match. Copyright 2023 IBTimes UK. Hendrie: "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. 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. It was unprecedented.". 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. Bradford fire 11.5.1985.mpg - video Dailymotion 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. There were no fire extinguishers. Videos, gifs, or aftermath photos of machinery, structures, or devices Fletcher has taken facts and presented them in such a way that it should make it moralistically impossible for this incident not to be looked at again. From 50 to 60 yards away, it was burning our faces it was unbearable. "Many people still don't want to talk about the disaster. However, the fire had consumed the stand entirely by that point and they were faced with huge flames and very dense smoke. I had no idea. 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. When cross examined by QC Robert Smith, then Chairman Stafford Heginbotham said he knew about the fire risk at the ground. On 11 May 1985 a fire erupted in the midst of a third-division tie between Bradford City and Lincoln City at Valley Parade, killing 54 home supporters and two Lincoln fans. 527 votes, 98 comments. 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.