[30], The outcome of the test case resulted in over 154 claims being addressed (110 civilians and 44 police officers)[31] by the injured or bereaved. He photographed the blaze from start to finish and the police will use this as evidence when an inquest is held. Grenfell among the UK's worst fire and tower tragedies "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. The Bradford City stadium fire was the worst fire disaster in the history of football.. 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. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire - HISTORY At the final home match against Barnsley at the end of April, Bradford City fans collected more than 8,000 in a bucket collection. Ironically, off-duty firemen were at the ground selling raffle tickets for a charity football match which should have been held yesterday. The Popplewell Inquiry found that a discarded cigarette and an accumulation of litter beneath the stand were to blame. Bradford council introduced its emergency plans procedure yesterday to give aid to many families affected by the disaster. 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. 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. The 1985 Bradford City Stadium fire remembered - IFSEC Global However as the game against Lincoln progressed, a fire began just before half-time in the stand that ran alongside the pitch. 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. [4], Although there had been some changes to other parts of the ground, the main stand remained unaltered by 1985. 05/12/15 AT 9:58 AM BST Crowds on the pitch at the Valley Parade stadium after a stand caught fire Getty Images Police have revealed the identity of the man who they believe was responsible. What Is Burning Man? | Burning Man But the sheer density of numbers coupled with the thick, choking smoke made people collapse. 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. 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. Saturday began for the fans in a carnival atmosphere at Bradford 's Valley Parade ground a short walk from the city centre. Burning Man - Wikipedia 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 smoke was very, very dense. 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. "The fire still has a big impact on people," Parker says. We couldn't breathe. It was clear from what the Chief Fire Officer for West Yorkshire, Mr Graham Karran, said yesterday that the ground was far from safe. All that was left of the main stand were rows of bare steel and stone, with blackened timbers hanging from the few remaining roof supports. Burning Man Countdown | Burning Man He asks the reader to make their mind up about whether these fires were a coincidence or not.". It's a nice little business and it's something positive that came out of a tragedy. It is not thought that there was any crowd trouble in this section but one theory the police are investigating is that a flare or smoke-bomb was thrown or was accidentally dropped. People were falling on to each other and screaming. Others ran forward to try to clamber over a fence and a small wall on to the pitch. [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. One, now re-situated to that end of the stand where the fire began, is a sculpture donated on the initial re-opening of Valley Parade in December 1986 by Sylvia Graucob, a then Jersey-based former West Yorkshire woman. My hands suffered the most because they were exposed the most. "Could any man really be as unlucky as Heginbotham had been?" 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. Valley Parade in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was built in 1886 and was initially the home ground of Manningham Rugby Football Club. She was hysterical and trying to find her three children. Police officers also assisted in the rescue attempts. The Bradford Burns Unit was set up by Professor David Sharpe after he received many of the victims following the fire. The 1985 Bradford City Football Stadium Fire What Happened and Why Parents and children were laughing and joking with the police as the preliminaries to the game began. When cross examined by QC Robert Smith, then Chairman Stafford Heginbotham said he knew about the fire risk at the ground. The Most Tragic Nightclub Fires In History - Grunge.com "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. Within 48 hours of the disaster, the Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund had been set up and would eventually raise over 3.5m ($5.4m). After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. [46], In 2014, the theatre company Funny You Should Ask (FYSA) premiered their heartfelt tribute to the 56 people who died at the fire. As he scaled the brick perimeter wall at the front, his father stayed behind to help others escape. 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. Other parents whose children had not arrived home on Saturday called at the police station or sat in cars outside, waiting for news. ', Sports reporters covering the game also spoke of the disaster. Stories From 11 May. Wildman: "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. Sign up and stay up to date with our daily newsletter. The other, situated by the main entrance, was donated by the club after its 7.5million (13million today) rebuilding of the original main stand in 2002. 56 people dead. "A lot of investigative work had been done by the police when I got there. Spread by the wind, the wooden roof, which was covered with tarpaulin and sealed with asphalt and bitumen, caught fire. Among the main outcomes of the inquiry were the banning of new wooden grandstands at all UK sports grounds, the immediate closure of other wooden stands deemed unsafe and the banning of smoking in other wooden stands. It seemed to put it out. When the game began there was no way out for them, except by going on to the pitch. We had to run up the stairs, through the office doors and out on to the street. Since 1903, when the club was formed, Bradford City Association Football Club had played their home games at the ground. Guided by the values expressed by the 10 Principles, Burning Man is a global ecosystem of artists, makers, and community organizers who co-create art, events, and local initiatives around the world. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. Although I was only 12 at the time, 11 May 1985 is a day. [citation needed] Spectators later spoke of initially feeling their feet becoming warmer; one of them ran to the back of the stand for a fire extinguisher but found none. [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. Valley Parade during the early 1990s, after it had been redeveloped following the fire. Cigarette smoking was also banned at all grounds with wooden stands. Bradford City stadium fire: The untold stories of the 1985 fire "[28], West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council was found to have failed in its duty under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. 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. 1.7M subscribers in the CatastrophicFailure community. 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. He lit a cigarette and when it was coming to an end he put it down on to the floorboard and tried to put his foot on it to put it out. 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. Bradford fire: The Valley Parade disaster 30 years on 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. BBC News - Bradford fire 'will live with me forever' 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? [40] Matthew Wildman was 17 at the time and needed crutches to walk because of rheumatoid arthritis. "All I could see was eerie white lights that the fire brigade had set up and the smoke still in the sky. Fletcher said that "The club at the time took no actual responsibility for its actions and nobody has ever really been held accountable for the level of negligence which took place. "All you could see was black cloud. 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. It wasn't just something that happened in the past.". Everybody in the city was devastated, but there was an amazing number of volunteers. Those with longer memories will also think of the Ibrox disaster of . 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. Website by, Bradford City FC stadium fire | 11th May 1985, Fundraising for firefighters and their families. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. Bradford City stadium fire: Remembering the 56 who died at Valley - IBT Representatives from the fire brigade were due to go to the club tomorrow to inspect it and see whether regulations were being observed. 'The fire just spread along the length of the stand in seconds. Fire kills 50 at soccer stadium - HISTORY [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. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. Of the 56people who died in the fire,[2] 54 were Bradford supporters and two supported Lincoln. Eighty names were unaccounted for and there were no positive indications about the cause of the fire. The 51 other bodies of children, women and men were so badly burned that identification will take many days. More than 250 others were injured in one of the biggest disasters at a British football ground. 1908 - Collinwood school fire, in Collinwood, Ohio (soon absorbed by Cleveland ), on March 4, killed 175. 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. Like you, we're already preparing for Black Rock City to rise again. His father Tony went back the following day and said: "I wondered how anybody had got out alive, but I also began to feel guilty that I had got out when so many hadn't." Part of the Appeal funds were raised by a recording of "You'll Never Walk Alone"[42] from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Carousel by The Crowd (including Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers, who had recorded the 1963 version that led to Liverpool adopting it as their motto and team song), which reached number one in the UK Singles chart. "Some of the local residents opened their houses so people could make phone calls. 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.. Fifty people die in a fire in the grandstand at a soccer stadium in Bradford, England, on May 11, 1985. Martin Fletcher, a Bradford fan who lost three generations of his family in the fire, published a memoir of the tragic event called Fifty-Six The Story Of The Bradford Fire, in which he claimed the blaze at Valley Parade was one of nine fires at businesses owned by or associated with Heginbotham. One elderly man started to walk across the pitch with his clothes and face ablaze. 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. The fact is that no one person was concerned with the safety of the premises. Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground. A Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund raised 3.5m for the victims and their families. Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. 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]. From 50 to 60 yards away, it was burning our faces it was unbearable. Footage of the accident at this point shows levels of confusion among the spectatorswhile many were trying to escape or to cross the pitch to the relative safety of the neighbouring stands, other spectators were observed cheering or waving to the still-rolling pitchside cameras. We sat in the main stand the week before, but we had decided to move on that day," he says. 1985: Fans killed in Bradford stadium fire. 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. "I've always loved art but I owned businesses in construction so I've never had the time or a chance to follow it up," he says. He later said: "I have never known anything like it, either before, or since. The flames suddenly appeared and the whole roof took alight,' he said. I do not include the people currently running the club, who have always displayed a great, sensitive duty to the memory of those who died. There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". ", "If the inquiry is opened again, we will await to see what evidence there is to prove is wasn't an accident," he says. In March 1985 the club's plans became more apparent when it took delivery of steel for a new roof. Burning Man.NYC. It was sort of the good thing to come out of the nightmare," says Simon Parker, a football reporter for the Telegraph and Argus. "Many people still don't want to talk about the disaster. I was there in hospital for eight weeks - it felt like a lifetime. "I was in the stand opposite when the fire broke out. 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. 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. Keep an eye out as you ride your bike through the city you will see a new solar-powered Man, fewer gas and . I remember trying to make sense of what was going on. Helm: "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye. The Bradford way was keep it to ourselves - it worked collectively that we did that.