And all you could smell was burning.". At the final home match against Barnsley at the end of April, Bradford City fans collected more than 8,000 in a bucket collection. "The fire still has a big impact on people," Parker says. Helm later described the start of the fire in an interview to the Express newspaper: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, [A] man over from Australia visiting his son got two tickets to the game. The game was goalless after 40 minutes when play was stopped. 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. The firemen who arrived there were met by a wall of flame and dense black smoke. The 1985 Bradford City Stadium fire remembered - IFSEC Global 2022 DECOMPRESSION WAS DREAMY . [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. [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. On the recording are Dene Michael (Black Lace), The Chuckle Brothers, Clive Jackson of Dr & The Medics, Owen Paul, Billy Pearce, Billy Shears, Flint Bedrock, Danny Tetley and Rick Wild of The Overlanders. Witnesses of the fire have come to terms with the tragedy in different ways. There were queues of people outside houses, which obviously wouldn't happen nowadays. But many, including Harrison, believe it could unnecessarily reopen wounds if it does happen. Bradford City stadium fire. A football match in Bradford UK ends Popplewell's report was nowhere close to the quality of Lord Justice Taylor's report after Hillsborough, and since reading it as an adult I have always been very disappointed in it and considered it a poor piece of work. 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. The game was irrelevant. Recommended The untold stories of the 1985 fire An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. The courts held the club to be two thirds responsible, finding that it gave "no or very little thought to fire precautions" despite repeated warnings. Within 48 hours of the disaster, the Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund had been set up and would eventually raise over 3.5m ($5.4m). It made me realise life is too short and I'm a happier person for it.". After 40 minutes of the first half, fans had begun to complain about the drab match and the 0-0 score. "A lot of investigative work had been done by the police when I got there. "Some of the local residents opened their houses so people could make phone calls. 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. Bradford City continues to support the burns unit at the University of Bradford as its official charity. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire - HISTORY As many supporters still required rescue from the stand, they were unable to immediately start fighting the source of the fire. "[33], Central to the test case were two letters sent to Bradford City's Club Secretary by the West Yorkshire Fire Brigade; the second letter dated 18 July 1984 specifically highlighted in full the improvements needed to be actioned at the ground as well as the fire risk at the main stand. At the time of the disaster, many stadiums had perimeter fencing between the stands and the pitch to prevent incidents of football hooliganism particularly pitch invasions which were rife during the 1980s. It was the brainchild of Bradford City fan Lloyd Spencer with all profits going to the Bradford Royal Infirmary Burns Unit.[43]. 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. Now a new film claims an Australian was responsible for the worst . "A disaster is not black and white - it is a mass of factors.". 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. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said. 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. You could hardly breathe. 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. The local council was deemed to be one third responsible. 48,785 Location Lake Jonathan Creek The footage never gets any less shocking. The wooden roof that burned was scheduled to be replaced by a steel roof later that same . I rolled over on my head, jumped up and ran off.". Police worked until 4am the next morning, under lighting, to remove all the bodies. I was there in hospital for eight weeks - it felt like a lifetime. Many who had walked out of the fire stood on the pitch looking back in horror as the flames destroyed the stand. I hope you enjoy some of the fascinating stories we have here.#History #Disasters 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. Tarpaulin fell on them and stuck to their clothes and then ignited. We accepted it was an accident, nobody wanted to blame the club because it was the club we wanted to support. 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". More than 200 people were taken to hospital, many with terrible injuries. Spread by the wind, the wooden roof, which was covered with tarpaulin and sealed with asphalt and bitumen, caught fire. "I was in the stand opposite when the fire broke out. "It is hard to imagine how Martin and his mother have managed to cope over the last 30 years and we have always respected him," Harrison says. As a result, Bradford-born captain Peter Jackson was presented with the league trophy before the final game of the season with mid-table Lincoln City at Valley Parade on 11 May 1985. People were wandering around outside the ground in disbelief, reminiscent of an air disaster, at what had happened the day before. 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. So I decided to give it that next push. Today marks the 35th anniversary of one of the worst disasters in the history of British football. A Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund raised 3.5m for the victims and their families. 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. As we move ahead on the 2030 Sustainability Roadmap, sustainability projects are taking center stage. 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. I ran to the stand and tried to help people escape. ', Sports reporters covering the game also spoke of the disaster. 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. By the time the fire brigade arrived they were faced with huge flames and dense smoke. He started to walk home, unsure of what had happened to his father. A fire at a third division match between Bradford City and Lincoln City killed 56, including 11 children, and injured hundreds more. The Bradford city stadium fire. 56 people died when a - reddit '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.'. Helm: "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye. His most recent painting is a powerful image; two fans in Bradford and Lincoln City kits, surrounded by 54 other figures. It slipped through a hole in the floorboard. [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. [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. [47] Scriptwriters of the play spent hours with the survivors and victims families. Some people seem to have run back up the slope, thinking that they could get back through the turnstiles, and were burned alive. Of the 56people who died in the fire,[2] 54 were Bradford supporters and two supported Lincoln. Sign up and stay up to date with our daily newsletter. He was asked if precautions would have been adequate had the club been in the Second Division. 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. 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.