burning man bradford city stadium fire burning man bradford city stadium fire

The team's coach, Mr Terry Yorath, ran on to the pitch to try to help people away from the stand. 1909 - Flores Theater fire, Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, on February 15, killed 250. Like all areas of forensic investigations, it has come on leaps and bounds. Popplewell's report was nowhere close to the quality of Lord Justice Taylor's report after Hillsborough, and since reading it as an adult I have always been very disappointed in it and considered it a poor piece of work. 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. 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 use necessary cookies to make our site work. Fifty-six people died. But the sheer density of numbers coupled with the thick, choking smoke made people collapse. [10] One eyewitness, Geoffrey Mitchell, told the BBC: "It spread like a flash. The game was irrelevant.". Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). Videos, gifs, or aftermath photos of machinery, structures, or devices The stories of escapes are legion. 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. 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. ', Sports reporters covering the game also spoke of the disaster. Copyright 2023 IBTimes UK. [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. Now they will begin another inquiry, into the cause of the Bradford fire. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. 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'. 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". Samuel Firth, a founder of the supporters' club, was the oldest victim at 86; four 11-year-old boys were the youngest. "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. The scene in there was one of silence and shock. 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. [14] It took less than four minutes for the entire stand to be engulfed in flames.[11]. 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]. 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. [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. "[59], Raymond Falconer's reliability had previously been questioned by Daniel Taylor in The Guardian who stated that: "The Bradford Telegraph and Argus described him as a 'top detective'. It was an awful thing to watch.". Now a new film claims an Australian was responsible for the worst . "All you could see was black cloud. [45] PCs Peter Donald Barrett and David Charles Midgley, along with spectators Michael William Bland and Timothy Peter Leigh received the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct. Like you, we're already preparing for Black Rock City to rise again. He later said: "I have never known anything like it, either before, or since. Witnesses of the fire have come to terms with the tragedy in different ways. People were scrambling for their lives to get out, and I know having sat in that stand normally that it is difficult and there is a drop to get to the pitch level," Harrison says. 1985 disaster in Valley Parade Stadium, Bradford, England. Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. "It is the little things that show how much people are still involved the fire still has a big impact on people. The Bradford Disaster Appeal fund, set up within 48hours of the disaster, eventually raised over 3.5million (11.3million today). ", On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online. Valley Parade during the early 1990s, after it had been redeveloped following the fire. Valley Parade re-opened on 14 December 1986, when Bradford City beat an England XI 21 in a friendly. Valley Parade in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was built in 1886 and was initially the home ground of Manningham Rugby Football Club. "[28], West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council was found to have failed in its duty under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. The fire started five minutes before half-time during the match on 11 May between Bradford and Lincoln City. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. And the black and twisted skeleton of the burnt stand stood out in the night. But I've never spoken to anyone who thought the fire wasn't anything other than a tragic accident. Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'. "The referee blew his whistle to stop the game and told us to get back to the dressing room.". Bradford city council officials, off-duty policemen and guests from Bradford 's twin town, Munchengladbach, were there to celebrate. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, that occurs on the penultimate night of Burning Man, which is the Saturday evening before Labor Day. ", "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye. All that was left of. What Is Burning Man? "I was dragged on to the pitch and into a line of people, who couldn't do much for themselves and were lying there. [48] Profits from the play's run at The Edinburgh Fringe were donated to the Bradford Burns Unit. The smoke was choking. Police officers also assisted in the rescue attempts. Football architect Archibald Leitch was commissioned to carry out the work. Most of the fans who took this escape route were killed or seriously injured. "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. It slipped through a hole in the floorboard. "We couldn't run back down the tunnel. Copyright , Fire Brigades Union, 2023. An inquiry launched in the aftermath of the disaster led to legislation to improve safety at football grounds. 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'. Original television coverage of the fire, as caught by cameras covering the match. It is repeated across the country on BBC Two at 23:20 BST on Wednesday, 13 May. Lincoln City chairman Bob Dorrian, centre, is joined by Former Imps Players Association chairman Trevor Swinburne, left, and chairman of the Red Imps. [4] Football ground writer Simon Inglis had described the view from the stand as "like watching football from the cockpit of a Sopwith Camel" because of its antiquated supports and struts. All Rights Reserved. [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. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said. The chairman of the football club, Mr Stafford Heginbotham, was near to tears as he explained what had happened. I ran to the stand and tried to help people escape. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. The playing area and stands were very basic but the ground had enough room for 18,000spectators. This included the banning of new wooden grandstands at all sports venues in the UK. Today, locals continue to raise money for the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit in memory of the victims of the fire. 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. The club's success had swollen the crowd to 10,000 and arguments will rage about fire precautions at the ground. Mr Delahunte was screaming into his microphone describing the scene until it became impossible to continue broadcasting. The entrances to the stand were all at the rear and were higher than the rest of the ground. "We went out on to the pitch and I could see so many happy faces. His most recent painting is a powerful image; two fans in Bradford and Lincoln City kits, surrounded by 54 other figures. Those with longer memories will also think of the Ibrox disaster of . "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.". Criticising Bradford City during the case, Mr. Michael Ogden QC, highlighted that the Club 'gave no or very little thought to fire precautions', despite repeated warnings. 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. Once we went out it was mayhem, manic, chaotic. The fire happened during a football match. One letter from the council said the problems "should be rectified as soon as possible"; a second said: "A carelessly discarded cigarette could give rise to a fire risk." "I was operated on every other day because I had so many burns and so many areas to work on. [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. 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 . 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. [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. "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. [4], Although there had been some changes to other parts of the ground, the main stand remained unaltered by 1985. It was clear from what the Chief Fire Officer for West Yorkshire, Mr Graham Karran, said yesterday that the ground was far from safe. Following the hearing in 1986, a test case was brought against the club by David Britton, a police sergeant serving on the day, and by Susan Fletcher, who lost her husband John, 11-year-old son Andrew, John's brother Peter and his father Edmond in the fire. "But the feeling here is that it is hard to believe that someone would purposefully start a fire. "I was in the main stand when the fire happened," he says. Bradford council introduced its emergency plans procedure yesterday to give aid to many families affected by the disaster. Exactly 79 years to the day after the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, another tragic fire occurred in New York City. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. As many supporters still required rescue from the stand, they were unable to immediately start fighting the source of the fire. People were falling on to each other and screaming. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". They were not able to use water on the stand immediately because this would have hampered attempts to rescue people being dragged by the police and friends from the stand. And then suddenly, in the space of 120-odd seconds, it really kicked in. Watch Missed Warnings on BBC One in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire at 22:45 BST on Tuesday, 12 May. Pendleton: "One of my most haunting images was being on the bus home after dark and going past Valley Parade. Police worked until 4am the next morning, under lighting, to remove all the bodies. A police officer shouted to a colleague for an extinguisher, but his call was misheard and instead the fire brigade were radioed. [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. My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. The Bradford City stadium fire was the worst fire disaster in the history of football.. He appealed to people to be patient while forensic experts identified bodies. It was during this treatment that Sharpe began to develop the Bradford Sling,[21] which applies even pressure across sensitive areas. The mood before the match on the 11 May 1985 against Lincoln City was one of jubilation. There were queues of people outside houses, which obviously wouldn't happen nowadays. We had not been told anything.". Fifty people die in a fire in the grandstand at a soccer stadium in Bradford, England, on May 11, 1985. Others ran forward to try to clamber over a fence and a small wall on to the pitch. The match, Bradford against Lincoln, was to have been a joyous climax to the club winning the Third Division championship and being promoted to the Second Division. 1908 - Collinwood school fire, in Collinwood, Ohio (soon absorbed by Cleveland ), on March 4, killed 175. [10] The call was timed at 3:43pm. 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. He agreed that the inquiry into Bradford, led by the judge Oliver Popplewell, was inadequate and that there are many unanswered questions. Those who escaped walked to a nearby pub to use the phone to ring home, while others arrived in a daze outside the police headquarters to try and trace relatives. 05/10/15 AT 12:00 PM BST Crowds on the pitch at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium after the stand caught fire Getty Images Fifty-six people were killed, 265 were injured and thousands. A capacity 6,000 crowd attended a multi-denominational memorial service, held on the pitch in the sunny shadow of the burnt out stand at Valley Parade in July 1985. We wanted to record the trophy presentation. Saturday began for the fans in a carnival atmosphere at Bradford 's Valley Parade ground a short walk from the city centre. Martin Fletcher was talking to BBC Look North. It wasn't just something that happened in the past.". "It wasn't covering anything up, it wasn't avoiding the truth of what happened, everyone knows what happened, everyone knows it shouldn't have happened. ", 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 worst fire disaster in English football history played out on live television on May 11, after Valley Parade's main stand caught fire during a match between Bradford City and Lincoln City on . 'The fire just spread along the length of the stand in seconds. "[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. Mike Harrison, the editor of the Bradford City Football Club fanzine The City Gent, was there on the day. 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. It seemed to put it out. 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. We wanted to record the trophy presentation. The flames suddenly appeared and the whole roof took alight,' he said. The man we see at 7:50 walking out onto the pitch on fire was a retired mill worker. Other parents whose children had not arrived home on Saturday called at the police station or sat in cars outside, waiting for news. Everybody in the city was devastated, but there was an amazing number of volunteers. > Contacts> Join us> Circulars> Training courses> Sign up to Rollcall. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. [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. "Many people still don't want to talk about the disaster. [12] The work was expected to cost 400,000 (1.3million today).