Now a new film claims an Australian was responsible for the worst . (2015), 2003 Football League Third Division play-off final, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bradford_City_stadium_fire&oldid=1141323458, Fire disasters involving barricaded escape routes, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2021, Articles needing additional references from May 2018, All articles needing additional references, Articles needing additional references from December 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Fan attempted to extinguish a lit cigarette, it slipped through floorboards and fell on rubbish, igniting it. 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. The 51 other bodies of children, women and men were so badly burned that identification will take many days. "[35], The total amount of compensation to the 154 claimants was reported to be as high as 20million, with the payouts covered by insurance taken out by the club. 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. The chairman of the football club, Mr Stafford Heginbotham, was near to tears as he explained what had happened. I looked down and I saw my hands melting. The Popplewell Inquiry found that a discarded cigarette and an accumulation of litter beneath the stand were to blame. [29] The Health and Safety Executive who were also part of the legal action were found to be non-liable. 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. "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. As we move ahead on the 2030 Sustainability Roadmap, sustainability projects are taking center stage. But many, including Harrison, believe it could unnecessarily reopen wounds if it does happen. And all you could smell was burning.". 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. "[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. Yet many of those with terrible memories of the tragedy also take heart in the compassion born out of the devastation. "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. It is impossible so far to be accurate about the precise cause of the fire, with grossly conflicting reports from witnesses. Within five minutes the whole stand was engulfed in flames. All you could hear was sirens and screams. We use necessary cookies to make our site work. 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. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. This day was for them. 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. Last updated on 10 May 201510 May 2015.From the section Football, "People didn't die because of fires at football grounds. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. [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. "We wouldn't normally have covered that game - no question about it. [10] The call was timed at 3:43pm. One retired mill worker made his way to the pitch, but was walking about on fire from head to foot. 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. [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. Interviews conducted by BBC Radio Leeds' Tim Daley. He photographed the blaze from start to finish and the police will use this as evidence when an inquest is held. 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 . "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. 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's a nice little business and it's something positive that came out of a tragedy. ", On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online. 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. Those who rescued people were themselves burned in the process. "Since then I have thought of everything we could have done, but we didn't have the presence of mind to run across the pitch and tell people to get out. Edited by BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko. Mr Delahunte was screaming into his microphone describing the scene until it became impossible to continue broadcasting. [17], One witness saw paper or debris on fire, about nine inches (230mm) below the floor boards. 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. ", There has always been a close bond between the club and its supporters since the fire, he adds. 'This was a dreadful afternoon. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 13:41. ', Sports reporters covering the game also spoke of the disaster. 1985 disaster in Valley Parade Stadium, Bradford, England. Bradford City continues to support the burns unit at the University of Bradford as its official charity. It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernisation of many British football grounds within the following thirty years. "We went out on to the pitch and I could see so many happy faces. "It's therapeutic and I've met so many people through doing this." The government inquiry into the disaster concluded the fire spread "faster than a man could run". There has been reports of people lighting paper under the seats, and it was important that as many fans as possible who were in the stand or at the Kop end contacted the police. The 4-alarm fire started in a one-story lumber storage building and spread to an adjacent building . 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. [8], The Bradford City matchday squad of players and staff consisted of Terry Yorath, Trevor Cherry, Chris Withe, Don Goodman, Eric McManus, Tony Clegg, John Hawley, Dave Evans, Bryan Edwards, John Hendrie, Mark Ellis, Stuart McCall, Peter Jackson, Bobby Campbell, Martin Singleton and Greg Abbott. The wooden roof that burned was scheduled to be replaced by a steel roof later that same . I don't see that. ", 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. 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 . [51] Another book; 56: The Story of the Bradford Fire (2015) was written by Martin Fletcher to discuss how the disaster was caused, and follows his loss of his father, brother, uncle and grandfather. "It made me realise life is too short." The blaze, at the Happy Land Social Club in the Bronx, killed 87 people, the . It is a simple account laid out for all to see. It was during this treatment that Sharpe began to develop the Bradford Sling,[21] which applies even pressure across sensitive areas. BurningMan.NYC will announce the dates and process for the 2023 grant cycle on this site & all BurningMan.NYC social channels in early Spring. Videos, gifs, or aftermath photos of machinery, structures, or devices At Valley Parade there are now two memorials. More than 200 people were taken to hospital, many with terrible injuries. 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. 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. > Contacts> Join us> Circulars> Training courses> Sign up to Rollcall. The game was goalless after 40 minutes when play was stopped. "For the first minute people were laughing and joking, it wasn't anything serious. "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. "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. There was some kind of disturbance near the edge of a block of seats in the G section of the main stand. It wasn't until later on when assistant manager Terry Yorath came in and said: 'It's not good.'". "The one thing I remember at the time is we were grateful that we got an answer quickly after the inquiry. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Revealed: former Bradford chairman linked to at least eight fires before Valley Parade disaster, Martin Fletcher: Maybe the reason I am here is to finally reveal the truth, TheStory of the Bradford Fire: could any man really be as unlucky as Stafford Heginbotham?. This included the banning of new wooden grandstands at all sports venues in the UK. It seemed to put it out. "I looked up and saw the flames. They stood outside the headquarters, staring at nothing in particular. However as the game against Lincoln progressed, a fire began just before half-time in the stand that ran alongside the pitch. [32] Speaking at the close of the case, the Judge said "They (the club) were at fault, no one in authority seemed to have appreciated the fire hazard. Some of the dead were found at the bottom of these steps. [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. It wasn't until later on when assistant manager Terry Yorath came in and said: 'It's not good.'". 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 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. 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. [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. A few minutes later, he felt a thump on his back from his father, who told him to run. "Could any man really be as unlucky as Heginbotham had been?" "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. The heat inside the stand literally ignited people where they stood. Although some attributed Lincoln City's sudden demise to the psychological effects of the fire on its players (together with the resignation of successful manager Colin Murphy shortly before the fire), it symbolised the wider crisis that the introduction of new safety legislation brought to Lincoln's Sincil Bank home. The fire happened during a football match. Although I was only 12 at the time, 11 May 1985 is a day. [53], In 1986, a year after the disaster, Yorkshire Television aired a documentary presented by John Helm entitled Bradford City A Year of Healing. 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". [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". 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." [27], Explaining his decision, Sir Joseph Cantley stated: "As I have already stated, the primary duty was on the Club and the functions of the County Council were supervisory and its liability is for negligent breach of a common law duty arising out of the way in which they dealt with or ignored their statutory powers.
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