Bradford City players line up to observe a minutes silence for the 25th anniversary of the 1985 Bradford stadium fire prior to the Coca Cola League. Together, flanked by undocumented supporters, they managed to clear all but one person who made it to the front of the stand. 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. The fire happened during a football match. "A disaster is not black and white - it is a mass of factors.". Everybody in the city was devastated, but there was an amazing number of volunteers. All that was left of. He went on to state: "In 1985 fire investigation in Britain was in its infancy and some would say at that time most fire investigators were not much more than dust-kickers. Former Bradford midfielder John Hendrie, who was playing in the match: "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. Christopher Hammond, who was 12 on the day, said on the 20th anniversary of the fire: "As a 12-year-old, it was easy to move on I didn't realise how serious it was until I looked at the press coverage over the next few days. [19] One fan put his jumper over a fellow supporter's head to extinguish flames. His face was burned and his car, which he had parked outside the ground, was destroyed. People were arriving in a daze outside Bradford police headquarters on Saturday evening and early yesterday. 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. [11] Those who escaped were taken out of the ground to neighbouring homes and a pub, where a television screened World of Sport, which broadcast video recorded of the fire just an hour after it was filmed. All you could hear was sirens and screams. It occurred during a league match in front of record numbers of spectators, on Saturday, 11 May 1985, killing 56 and injuring at least 265. The fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium in which 56 people died and more than 270 were injured is remembered 25 years on. It was unprecedented.". Spreading with almost unbelievable speed, a small fire under a wooden. But looking back and seeing how much it really affected my dad makes me realise what we went through." I rolled over on my head, jumped up and ran off.". The fire destroyed the main stand completely and left only burned seats, lamps and metal fences remaining. So I threw myself over the wall and luckily someone dived in to catch me before I hit the floor.". "As a 15-year-old, you don't really know how much of an impact an event like that will have on your life," Town says. Fans in the next stand (the "Bradford End") pulled down the fence separating them from the pitch. 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'. "Some of the local residents opened their houses so people could make phone calls. Just look at how many people were standing around just 50-60 meters away from the blazing inferno. Now they will begin another inquiry, into the cause of the Bradford fire. Bradford City initially prospered in the Second Division only missing out on promotion to the First Division in 1988 after failing to beat Ipswich Town at home on the final day of their first full season back at Valley Parade. 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. [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. Edited by BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko. "I remember not being able to watch it, but we couldn't get out. [2] The main stand was described as a "mammoth structure", but was unusual for its time because of its place on the side of a hill. I was there in hospital for eight weeks - it felt like a lifetime. Mr Delahunte was screaming into his microphone describing the scene until it became impossible to continue broadcasting. The scene in there was one of silence and shock. 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. The firemen who arrived there were met by a wall of flame and dense black smoke. Artist Paul Town, who now lives in Baildon, was 15 at the time of the fire. 'It is the worst day in my life. 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. Yet many of those with terrible memories of the tragedy also take heart in the compassion born out of the devastation. "It is unbelievable how quickly the fire took hold. Each year Lincoln send representatives to the annual memorial service in Bradford city centre and between 2007 and 2009, were managed by Bradford's captain that day, Peter Jackson. Coach Terry Yorath described the events as "the worst day in my life. Burning timber and molten material began to fall onto the seating below and black smoke enveloped the passageway behind, where fans were trying to escape. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. It is repeated across the country on BBC Two at 23:20 BST on Wednesday, 13 May. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. Disaster struck at 3.43 pm. This day was for them. 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. He later said: "I have never known anything like it, either before, or since. "The fire still has a big impact on people," Parker says. This included the banning of new wooden grandstands at all sports venues in the UK. It was nearly double the season's average of 6,610 and included 3,000fans in the ground's main stand. It was an awful thing to watch.". As he received the injured at Bradford Royal Infirmary he was able to call upon 10% of the UK's population of plastic surgeons. A discarded cigarette and a dilapidated wooden stand, which had survived because the club did not have the money to replace it, and accumulated paper litter, were considered to have conspired to cause the worst disaster in the history of the Football League. 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. [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. 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. It was during this treatment that Sharpe began to develop the Bradford Sling,[21] which applies even pressure across sensitive areas. "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. 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." Bits of my arms, bits of my legs, part of my face, part of my scalp. 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. [56], On 17 April 2015, retired Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer, in a report by the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, said the police were aware of an Australian man who admitted to starting the fire. 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. Bits of my arms, bits of my legs, part of my face, part of my scalp. Sign up and stay up to date with our daily newsletter. There were no fire extinguishers. "[27], After controversial comments made by Popplewell about the Hillsborough Disaster, Fletcher raised further concerns about the events following the fire saying that "I have many unanswered questions still about the fire in which four of my family died, as does my mother. The man we see at 7:50 walking out onto the pitch on fire was a retired mill worker. Earlier this year, Town gave up working in construction to pursue painting full-time through his business Stadium Portraits. ", 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. "[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]. [31] In 1988, the first compensation payments were made to survivors of the fire, with over 40 people receiving up to 40,000 each. The stand had already been condemned, and the demolition teams were due to start work two days later. ", 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. [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. I remember trying to make sense of what was going on. "Several minutes before half-time I saw there was a wee bit of bother. Nigel Adams who worked for 12 years as a fire investigator with a British fire service was spurred on by the book to join the call for a fresh inquiry, stating that Fletcher's book was "one of the best accounts of a fire, as seen from a victim's point of view, and as a piece of investigative writing, I have ever read". 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 were many cases of heroism, with more than 50 people later receiving police awards or commendations for bravery. Hillsborough looms the largest in our collective consciousness, but there were also the many deaths that occurred at Heysel Stadium in 1985, as well as the Bradford City stadium fire that same year. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. We didn't know how serious it was.". 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. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said. And the black and twisted skeleton of the burnt stand stood out in the night. Those with longer memories will also think of the Ibrox disaster of . Speculation an Australian man started the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 IT killed 56 people and destroyed an entire stadium. 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. [48] Profits from the play's run at The Edinburgh Fringe were donated to the Bradford Burns Unit. Helm: "The scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldn't possibly imagine.". [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. However, when Bradford City won promotion to the highest level of English football, Division One, in 1908, club officials sanctioned an upgrade programme. "We stayed in the pub for hours. The heat was so intense it caused car windows to shatter in the street. Warnings had been issued over the ground's antiquated wooden structure, which had been condemned and was due to be pulled down and replaced with steel and concrete. I looked down and I saw my hands melting. 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. The fire claimed young and old alike, with most fatalities occurring at the rear of the stand where people sought escape only to find turnstiles locked. We use necessary cookies to make our site work. Led by former England international Trevor Cherry, the Bantams won only their third divisional title and earned a return to the second tier of English football for the first time since 1937. 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. More than 200 people were taken to hospital, many with terrible injuries. Those are the words of David Pendleton, a survivor of the Bradford City fire disaster, which happened 30 years ago. 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. More than 250 others were injured in one of the. "We went out on to the pitch and I could see so many happy faces. 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. "How quickly the fire spread is difficult to convey to people.". 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. But the sheer density of numbers coupled with the thick, choking smoke made people collapse. The mood before the match on the 11 May 1985 against Lincoln City was one of jubilation. 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. Pendleton: "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. [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. "I looked up and saw the flames. All Rights Reserved. Parents and children were laughing and joking with the police as the preliminaries to the game began. She was hysterical and trying to find her three children. [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. 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. Bradford council introduced its emergency plans procedure yesterday to give aid to many families affected by the disaster. Bradford City Stadium Fire 56 Dead & 100's Injured The Bradford City stadium fire was a stadium disaster that occurred during an English League Third Division fixture between Bradford City and Lincoln City on Saturday, 11 May 1985, killing 56 and injuring at least 265. 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. In the panic that ensued, fleeing crowds escaped on to the pitch but others at the back of the stand tried to break down locked exit doors to escape. 1908 - Rhoads Opera House fire, Boyertown, Pennsylvania, killed 170. Fletcher, who was 12 at the time of the fire, does not make any direct allegations but he does believe Heginbotham's history with fires resulting in payouts of around 27m in today's terms warrants further investigation. Some of those who died were still sitting upright in their seats, covered by remnants of tarpaulin that had fallen from the roof. Although I was only 12 at the time, 11 May 1985 is a day. Website by, Bradford City FC stadium fire | 11th May 1985, Fundraising for firefighters and their families.