Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'. BurningMan.NYC will announce the dates and process for the 2023 grant cycle on this site & all BurningMan.NYC social channels in early Spring. The inquiry had found that the club had been warned that the accumulation of rubbish beneath the stands was a fire risk. 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. 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.. It slipped through a hole in the floorboard. He was helped out of the stand by other fans and spent a period of time in hospital. 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. Wildman: "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. [10] One eyewitness, Geoffrey Mitchell, told the BBC: "It spread like a flash. The club's success had swollen the crowd to 10,000 and arguments will rage about fire precautions at the ground. The Bradford way was keep it to ourselves - it worked collectively that we did that. Disaster struck at 3.43 pm. ", IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said. 'The fire just spread along the length of the stand in seconds. 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. "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. The team's coach, Mr Terry Yorath, ran on to the pitch to try to help people away from the stand. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, Mr Colin Sampson, said yesterday that a team of doctors and pathologists had worked throughout the night trying to identify the dead. Twenty nine years ago on this date, 56 people tragically died when a fire erupted at Bradford City's Valley Parade ground The day was supposed to be one of celebration for Bradford who had just won the Third Division trophy. 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. "[11] Police Superintendent Barry Osborne, divisional commander for the area, said many of his officers cried when they saw how badly people had been burned. 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. You may notice some big changes in Black Rock City this year. 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. Someone came in and shouted: 'Get out, get out there's a fire'. Tarpaulin fell on them and stuck to their clothes and then ignited. "I'm sorry to spoil what is obviously a very good story, but I'm afraid it is nonsense for many reasons.". Helm: "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye. However, the fire had consumed the stand entirely by that point and they were faced with huge flames and very dense smoke. It was appalling that public money was given to the club while it was still owned by the same shareholders under whose direction the fire had happened. The scene in there was one of silence and shock. Fire on Upper Castle Street, Bradford Yorkshire Evening Post On This Day 1985: The Bradford City Fire 0:15 Bradford Mill fire 24:43 The Bradford Fire 0:26 Large fire in Bradford Yorkshire Evening Post Bradford Mill fire 0:34 Bradford Great Horton Mill fire 0:10 Fire at Bradford school (video: Glynn Beck) 4:05 bradford city fc fire 1985 Soon they were all running for their lives. It remains to be seen whether a new investigation will take place. 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. At Valley Parade there are now two memorials. We accepted it was an accident, nobody wanted to blame the club because it was the club we wanted to support. It was clear from what the Chief Fire Officer for West Yorkshire, Mr Graham Karran, said yesterday that the ground was far from safe. People who had escaped the fire then tried to assist their fellow supporters. This included the banning of new wooden grandstands at all sports venues in the UK. My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. I'd seen the film on the Saturday but the bleakness of the stadium burnt out, and the gloom that afflicted everybody, was dreadful. [10][16] More than 265 supporters were injured. The fact is that no one person was concerned with the safety of the premises. [8][10] Three men smashed down one door and at least one exit was opened by people outside, which again helped prevent further deaths. [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. Radiated heat from the burning roof of the stand set fire to the clothing of fans trapped underneath. "All I could see was eerie white lights that the fire brigade had set up and the smoke still in the sky. We were sat in our football kit, we didn't know what to do. 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. Pendleton: "One of my most haunting images was being on the bus home after dark and going past Valley Parade. As he received the injured at Bradford Royal Infirmary he was able to call upon 10% of the UK's population of plastic surgeons. We sat in the main stand the week before, but we had decided to move on that day," he says. Most of the exits at the back were locked or shut and there were no stewards present to open them, but seven were forced open or found open. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. It was nearly double the season's average of 6,610 and included 3,000fans in the ground's main stand. Bits of my arms, bits of my legs, part of my face, part of my scalp. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". Wealso use analytics cookies that don't track usersto help us improve it. Crowds on the pitch at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium after the stand caught fire, Bradford City fans pay tribute to the 56 fans who died the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985, The blaze causing the deaths of 56 supporters in one of the worst incidents in British football, Bradford artist Paul Town was inspired to paint after surviving the Valley Parade fire, Stay up to date with our daily newsletter, New book claims fatal 1985 Bradford City Valley Parade fire might have been started deliberately, Bradford City chairman 'linked to eight fires' before Valley Parade stadium disaster, Bradford City 0-0 Reading: Bantams hold Royals in quarter-final stalemate, David Alaba receives massive abuse for voting for Lionel Messi in The Best awards, Glazers' demands set to delay Manchester United takeover: reports, Man Utd beat West Ham to reach FA Cup quarters as Spurs crash out, Bahrain GP: F1 team rankings ahead of 2023 season-opener, Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Xavi admits Los Blancos still favourites to advance. The entrances to the stand were all at the rear and were higher than the rest of the ground. Police removed the last body from the ground at 4 am yesterday, working under arc lights. [11], The fire escalated very rapidly, and flames became visible; police started to evacuate the stand. [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. 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? [6], The 198485 season had been one of Bradford City's most successful seasons, ending with City clinching the championship title courtesy of a 20 victory against Bolton Wanderers in the penultimate game of the season. [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. She was an. One retired mill worker made his way to the pitch, but was walking about on fire from head to foot. 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. Other parents whose children had not arrived home on Saturday called at the police station or sat in cars outside, waiting for news. [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. 56 dead and hundreds more injured. His face was burned and his car, which he had parked outside the ground, was destroyed. "I walked past a public telephone outside the ground and there were queues of people waiting to ring home to say: 'I'm OK'. It's terrifying how quickly fire spreads in the wrong circumstances. "One of my most haunting images was being on the bus home after dark and going past Valley Parade. By the time the fire brigade arrived they were faced with huge flames and dense smoke. > Contacts> Join us> Circulars> Training courses> Sign up to Rollcall. 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. The fire started five minutes before half-time during the match on 11 May between Bradford and Lincoln City. I've never seen anything like it. People who had escaped the fire then tried to assist their fellow supporters. The extinguishers were put there so that they would be out of the way of fans who could use them as missiles, which apparently had happened previously. He started to walk home, unsure of what had happened to his father. 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. The smoke was choking. Mr Antony Burrows said: 'One man was stood near me with his hair on fire. More than 3,500 people were crammed into the main stand area and this prevented people from moving away from the blaze quickly. 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. 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. 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. It was sort of the good thing to come out of the nightmare," says Simon Parker, a football reporter for the Telegraph and Argus. "[16] At the front of the stand, men threw children over the wall to help them escape. Together, flanked by undocumented supporters, they managed to clear all but one person who made it to the front of the stand. An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. [1] When the association football club was formed, the ground was changed very little and had no covered accommodation. Fifty-six people died. "[23], On the 25th anniversary of the fire, the University of Bradford established the United Kingdom's largest academic research centre in skin sciences as an extension to its plastic surgery and burns research unit.[24]. "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. 1985 disaster in Valley Parade Stadium, Bradford, England. ", 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. After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. [10] Of those who died, 11 were under-18 and 23 were aged 65 or over,[20] and the oldest victim was the club's former chairman, Sam Firth, aged 86. 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. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. The 4-alarm fire started in a one-story lumber storage building and spread to an adjacent building . Coach Terry Yorath described the events as "the worst day in my life. [12] The work was expected to cost 400,000 (1.3million today). Some had been crushed as they tried to crawl under turnstiles to escape. The playing area and stands were very basic but the ground had enough room for 18,000spectators. The chairman of the football club, Mr Stafford Heginbotham, was near to tears as he explained what had happened. "The referee blew his whistle to stop the game and told us to get back to the dressing room.". Instead it turned into a day of appalling tragedy. Earlier this year, Town gave up working in construction to pursue painting full-time through his business Stadium Portraits. 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. A Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund raised 3.5m for the victims and their families. The disaster led to rigid new safety standards in UK stadiums, including the banning of new wooden grandstands. By the time they got back, the whole thing had taken off. "I know it's a clich to say that, but it's true.". The team was presented with the Division Three championship trophy - their first trophy in 56 years - in front of 11,000 jubilant fans before the start of their match against Lincoln City. 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]. Bradford council introduced its emergency plans procedure yesterday to give aid to many families affected by the disaster. People pushed him to the ground and tried to smother the flames. Many who had walked out of the fire stood on the pitch looking back in horror as the flames destroyed the stand. The sling is now used internationally in the treatment of burns. Like all areas of forensic investigations, it has come on leaps and bounds. 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. "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. Everybody in the city was devastated, but there was an amazing number of volunteers. I rolled over on my head, jumped up and ran off.". Some people seem to have run back up the slope, thinking that they could get back through the turnstiles, and were burned alive. "I was operated on every other day because I had so many burns and so many areas to work on. Those are the words of David Pendleton, a survivor of the Bradford City fire disaster, which happened 30 years ago. I don't know where Falconer is getting this cock-and-bull story from the inaccuracies in this report [documentary] are dumbfounding. As many supporters still required rescue from the stand, they were unable to immediately start fighting the source of the fire. Keep an eye out as you ride your bike through the city you will see a new solar-powered Man, fewer gas and . The 51 other bodies of children, women and men were so badly burned that identification will take many days. Website by, Bradford City FC stadium fire | 11th May 1985, Fundraising for firefighters and their families. Parents and children were laughing and joking with the police as the preliminaries to the game began. [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. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. Otherwise, I would not have been able to get out. Once we went out it was mayhem, manic, chaotic. One man clambered over burning seats to help a fan, as did player John Hawley, and one officer led fans to an exit, only to find it shut and turn around.Bradford City's coach Terry Yorath, whose family was in the stand, ran onto the pitch to help evacuate people. Valley Parade in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was built in 1886 and was initially the home ground of Manningham Rugby Football Club. The speed at which fire engulfs the entire stand is insane. There were no extinguishers in the stand's passageway for fear of vandalism, and one spectator ran to the clubhouse to find one but was overcome by smoke and impeded by others trying to escape. It was the brainchild of Bradford City fan Lloyd Spencer with all profits going to the Bradford Royal Infirmary Burns Unit.[43]. 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'.

Rigmor Alfredsson Newman Miss Sweden, University Of Birmingham Admissions Contact Number, Articles B