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'. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire - HISTORY Bradford City stadium fire: The untold stories of the 1985 fire 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. 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. 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. Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. A police officer shouted to a colleague for an extinguisher, but his call was misheard and instead the fire brigade were radioed. 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. Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. Bradford City stadium fire disaster: In memory of the 56 victims Yet many of those with terrible memories of the tragedy also take heart in the compassion born out of the devastation. [10][16] More than 265 supporters were injured. BurningMan.NYC will announce the dates and process for the 2023 grant cycle on this site & all BurningMan.NYC social channels in early Spring. Bradford fire: the horrors and the silence that had to be broken Daniel Taylor The policewoman assigned to the grieving Fletchers gets goosebumps when she looks back to 30 years ago. Some days I had two operations in a day. 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. ", 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. Police officers also assisted in the rescue attempts. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". Burning Man Countdown | Burning Man "I was in the main stand when the fire happened," he says. After 40 minutes of the first half, fans had begun to complain about the drab match and the 0-0 score. List of building or structure fires - Wikipedia We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. Loading. The blame was through neglect, they didn't have the money to maintain the stand. The man we see at 7:50 walking out onto the pitch on fire was a retired mill worker. It was the brainchild of Bradford City fan Lloyd Spencer with all profits going to the Bradford Royal Infirmary Burns Unit.[43]. Saturday began for the fans in a carnival atmosphere at Bradford 's Valley Parade ground a short walk from the city centre. 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. The stand itself was engulfed in seconds, almost as if petrol had been ignited throughout the block. When the game began there was no way out for them, except by going on to the pitch. "A disaster is not black and white - it is a mass of factors.". 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. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. Below the seats were rows of litter which had piled up throughout the season, said witnesses. It's terrifying how quickly fire spreads in the wrong circumstances. Television cameras spotted the outbreak of fire in Valley Parade's main stand at 15:40 BST. Within a few hours of the blaze starting, it was established that 56 people had been killed, many as a result of smoke inhalation, although some of them had survived until reaching hospital.[11]. Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground. It slipped through a hole in the floorboard. "The one thing I remember at the time is we were grateful that we got an answer quickly after the inquiry. 'I have to tell you that the fire was so intense that identifying people is going to be the great problem we have to face.'. Two or three burly men put their weight against it and smashed the gate open. "All I could see was eerie white lights that the fire brigade had set up and the smoke still in the sky. Bradford City stadium fire: The untold stories of the 1985 fire that devastated Valley Parade Thirty years after football's 'forgotten tragedy', the truth of what exactly happened when 56. 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. Today, locals continue to raise money for the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit in memory of the victims of the fire. Bradford City fire: Police reveal who was responsible for 1985 Valley After Hillsborough, the Bradford City FC stadium fire was the second worst sporting tragedy in England, leaving 56 dead and at least 265 injured. [29] The Health and Safety Executive who were also part of the legal action were found to be non-liable. The stand had been officially condemned and was due to be replaced with a steel structure after the season ended. [10] Bradford City's coach Terry Yorath, whose family was in the stand,[19] ran onto the pitch to help evacuate people. Others ran forward to try to clamber over a fence and a small wall on to the pitch. They wouldn't let us because then people would get in the way of fire engines, ambulances and police trying to get in. An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. [10][11], Bradford's Telegraph & Argus newspaper published a souvenir issue for 11 May, entitled, "Spit and Polish for the Parade Ground". The Man burns on September 02, 2023. Grenfell among the UK's worst fire and tower tragedies I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. 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. "[16] At the front of the stand, men threw children over the wall to help them escape. The fact is that no one person was concerned with the safety of the premises. "One of my most haunting images was being on the bus home after dark and going past Valley Parade. Instead it turned into a day of appalling tragedy. [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. It remains to be seen whether a new investigation will take place. 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. People smothered him to extinguish the flames, but he later died of his injuries in hospital. He saw smoke coming from a small area of the stand and thought that someone had let off a flare. 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. [7] As it was the first piece of league silverware that the club had captured since they won the Division Three (North) title 56years earlier, 11,076supporters were in the ground. The sling is now used internationally in the treatment of burns. The book also raises concerns about the speed of the inquiry and the fact that it commenced a few weeks after the fire and lasted for only a few days, whereas other inquiries into similar incidents, pre and post the Bradford fire, have taken years to come to fruition and months to be heard. "Until I arrived home my mum and my brother had no idea whether I was alive or dead. 1908 - Rhoads Opera House fire, Boyertown, Pennsylvania, killed 170. It made me realise life is too short and I'm a happier person for it.". [22], Immediately after the fire, Sharpe planned and treated the injuries of over 200 individuals, with many experimental treatments being used. [5] However, he also warned the club of a build-up of litter beneath the stand because of a gap between the seats. I hope you enjoy some of the fascinating stories we have here.#History #Disasters "That was the legacy of the tragedy. Bradford City stadium fire - Wikipedia The man in charge of investigating the fire, Detective Superintendent Kevin Cooper was at the game. Christmas Day is supposed to be happy and pleasant, a time to gather with loved ones for a chill and relaxing celebration. "I was in the stand opposite when the fire broke out. "[16] As spectators began to cascade over the wall separating the stand from the pitch, the linesman on that side of the pitch informed referee Norman Glover, who stopped the game with three minutes remaining before half-time. Burning Man NYC 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. Town began to paint two years ago, first of the old Bradford Park Avenue ground, before moving onto other stadiums. While Valley Parade was re-developed, Bradford City played games at various neighbouring grounds: Elland Road, Leeds; Leeds Road, Huddersfield; and Odsal Stadium, Bradford. Burning Man - Wikipedia 1909 - Flores Theater fire, Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, on February 15, killed 250. People who had escaped the fire then tried to assist their fellow supporters. Bradford council introduced its emergency plans procedure yesterday to give aid to many families affected by the disaster. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said. One man clambered over burning seats to help a fan,[18] as did player John Hawley,[15] and one officer led fans to an exit, only to find it shut and had to turn around. Bradford City fire was started by a tourist who dropped a cigarette 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. Bradford city council officials, off-duty policemen and guests from Bradford 's twin town, Munchengladbach, were there to celebrate. Bradford City stadium fire. A football match in Bradford UK ends Some people seem to have run back up the slope, thinking that they could get back through the turnstiles, and were burned alive. Martin Fletcher was talking to BBC Look North. 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. 1.7M subscribers in the CatastrophicFailure community. Fletcher has been the only survivor to publicly challenge the inquiry's findings. According to ABC News, though, several hundred people in the Chinese city of Luoyang decided to cut loose on Christmas night 2000 by heading to a nightclub housed on the fourth floor of a multi-use industrial building.A fire broke out in the basement of the structure . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The horrific scenes of people burning alive seemed to live on in an eerie silence as daylight broke over the remains of Bradford City Football Club's ground yesterday. England won the re-match 64. Although I was only 12 at the time, 11 May 1985 is a day. Of the 56 people who died in the fire,[2] 54 were Bradford supporters and two supported Lincoln. The 1985 Bradford City Stadium fire remembered - IFSEC Global The Popplewell Inquiry found that the club had been warned about the fire risk that the rubbish accumulating under the stand had posed. 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. The two sides met for the first time after the fire in April 1989, when they arranged a benefit match in aid of the Hillsborough disaster, at Valley Parade. Bradford City continues to support the burns unit at the University of Bradford as its official charity. However, when Bradford City won promotion to the highest level of English football, Division One, in 1908, club officials sanctioned an upgrade programme. The mood before the match on the 11 May 1985 against Lincoln City was one of jubilation. 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. Mr Delahunte was screaming into his microphone describing the scene until it became impossible to continue broadcasting.