What Is Burning Man? Another player went into the office space to ensure there was nobody there. [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. There is no malicious vendetta, there is no over-exaggeration, there are no trumped-up facts. I had no idea. Earlier this year, Town gave up working in construction to pursue painting full-time through his business Stadium Portraits. 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. "That was the moment that I realised not everybody was going to get out. Some had been crushed as they tried to crawl under turnstiles to escape. Yet in 2015, allegations surfaced which shifted the focus to the club's then chairman, Stafford Heginbotham. About 3,000 people were in Valley Parade's main stand, escaping by climbing over walls on to the pitch or through the usual exit gates. [45] In total, 28 police officers and 22 supporters, who were publicly documented as having saved at least one life, later received police commendations or bravery awards. Watch Missed Warnings on BBC One in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire at 22:45 BST on Tuesday, 12 May. It made me realise life is too short and I'm a happier person for it.". For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford. They were immediately promoted back to the Football League in 1988, and survived for 23 years before being relegated again in 2011. 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. Martin Fletcher was talking to BBC Look North. The 4-alarm fire started in a one-story lumber storage building and spread to an adjacent building . Like you, we're already preparing for Black Rock City to rise again. His most recent painting is a powerful image; two fans in Bradford and Lincoln City kits, surrounded by 54 other figures. "We couldn't run back down the tunnel. 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 walked past a public telephone outside the ground and there were queues of people waiting to ring home to say: 'I'm OK'. Someone came in and shouted: 'Get out, get out there's a fire'. The chairman of the football club, Mr Stafford Heginbotham, was near to tears as he explained what had happened. 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]. The Man burns on September 02, 2023. 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. "As I ran away I remember turning around and looking and just seeing this wall of grey smoke pouring out and pushing thousands of people in front of it. Together, flanked by undocumented supporters, they managed to clear all but one person who made it to the front of the stand. Cigarette smoking was also banned at all grounds with wooden stands. Wealso use analytics cookies that don't track usersto help us improve it. Representatives from the fire brigade were due to go to the club tomorrow to inspect it and see whether regulations were being observed. 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. But a minute or so later there was suddenly a bigger whoosh of smoke so they went to get a steward. It was to be our day,' he said. Police worked until 4am the next morning, under lighting, to remove all the bodies. Only then do you realise the huge network of people the fire involved. 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. Since 1903, when the club was formed, Bradford City Association Football Club had played their home games at the ground. One woman was seen running around the ground with no skin on her arms and face. That's when everybody else had the same thought. The plastic surgeon who treated the injuries of over 200, Professor David Sharpe, went on to set up a world-renowned burns research facility at the University of Bradford. It spelt out 'thank you fans'. The Bradford way was keep it to ourselves - it worked collectively that we did that. He photographed the blaze from start to finish and the police will use this as evidence when an inquest is held. Fletcher has taken facts and presented them in such a way that it should make it moralistically impossible for this incident not to be looked at again. 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. [12] The work was expected to cost 400,000 (1.3million today). Mr Antony Burrows said: 'One man was stood near me with his hair on fire. The local council was deemed to be one third responsible. Some of the dead were found at the bottom of these steps. BurningMan.NYC will announce the dates and process for the 2023 grant cycle on this site & all BurningMan.NYC social channels in early Spring. One elderly man started to walk across the pitch with his clothes and face ablaze. "The scene when I arrived was horrendous. However, the fire had consumed the stand entirely by that point and they were faced with huge flames and very dense smoke. '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.'. Owing to windy conditions, less than four minutes later the entire wooden stand was engulfed in smoke and fire. Burning timbers and molten materials fell from the roof onto the crowd and seating below, and dense black smoke enveloped a passageway behind the stand, where many spectators were trying to escape. 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. ", "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye. Other parents whose children had not arrived home on Saturday called at the police station or sat in cars outside, waiting for news. Many were burnt to death at the turnstiles gates, which had also been locked after the match had begun. People smothered him to extinguish the flames, but he later died of his injuries in hospital. We were given the trophy before the game in front of the supporters and had to do a lap of honour. Instead it turned into a day of appalling tragedy. Bradford fan Matthew Wildman, who was aged 17 and using crutches because of rheumatoid arthritis: "When I got to one of the final walls, there was an eight-foot drop at the other side, concrete at the bottom. At the time, however, Harrison says, Bradford just wanted to move on. 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. [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. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. [] I still have terrible memories of the day, but it is the humanity of those that helped us that I reflect on."[41]. The fire started five minutes before half-time during the match on 11 May between Bradford and Lincoln City. "I saw people die in the stand - but it was only until then that I realised the scale of it.". [16] Messages of condolence were also received from Helmut Kohl, Chedli Klibi and Felipe Gonzlez. 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. "Until I arrived home my mum and my brother had no idea whether I was alive or dead. It detailed the safety work which would be carried out at Valley Parade as a result of the club's promotion, admitting the ground was "inadequate in so many ways for modern requirements". You may notice some big changes in Black Rock City this year. Burning Man.NYC. [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. Bradford City were supposed to be celebrating on 11 May 1985. The sling is now used internationally in the treatment of burns. We, and the world, need Burning Man and Black Rock City more than ever. Loading. [10][16] More than 265 supporters were injured. 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. We were sat in our football kit, we didn't know what to do. 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. It slipped through a hole in the floorboard. As the blaze spread, the wooden stands and roofcovered with layers of highly flammable bituminous roofing feltquickly went ablaze. 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. [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. Wildman: "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. 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. 527 votes, 98 comments. However, there is a lot in this book that troubles me about the science, or lack of it, used in the testing of the investigators' hypothesis as to the source of the ignition. By the time the fire brigade arrived they were faced with huge flames and dense smoke. "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. 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. [46], In 2014, the theatre company Funny You Should Ask (FYSA) premiered their heartfelt tribute to the 56 people who died at the fire. Yet many of those with terrible memories of the tragedy also take heart in the compassion born out of the devastation. Today marks the 35th anniversary of one of the worst disasters in the history of British football. He agreed that the inquiry into Bradford, led by the judge Oliver Popplewell, was inadequate and that there are many unanswered questions. Those are the words of David Pendleton, a survivor of the Bradford City fire disaster, which happened 30 years ago. People were arriving in a daze outside Bradford police headquarters on Saturday evening and early yesterday. "I was burnt from top to bottom, on and off. An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. It was the brainchild of Bradford City fan Lloyd Spencer with all profits going to the Bradford Royal Infirmary Burns Unit.[43]. Those with longer memories will also think of the Ibrox disaster of . 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. 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. As he received the injured at Bradford Royal Infirmary he was able to call upon 10% of the UK's population of plastic surgeons. 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. 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. It has a black marble fascia on which the names and ages of those that died are inscribed in gold, and a black marble platform on which people can leave flowers and mementos. Thirty years on, the majority of survivors still find it too difficult to talk about what happened at the Valley Parade on 11 May 1985. Disaster struck at 3.43 pm. Pendleton: "As I ran away I remember turning around and looking and just seeing this wall of grey smoke pouring out and pushing thousands of people in front of it. 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. The inquiry had found that the club had been warned that the accumulation of rubbish beneath the stands was a fire risk. 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. Fans in the next stand (the "Bradford End") pulled down the fence separating them from the pitch. 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. Coach Terry Yorath described the events as "the worst day in my life. The match was recorded by Yorkshire Television for their regional edition of the ITV Sunday afternoon football show The Big Match. The heat inside the stand literally ignited people where they stood. Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground. 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. All that was left of. People ran onto the pitch with their clothes on fire while others were trapped at the back of the stand where they had gone to try to escape through the turnstiles. Now a new film claims an Australian was responsible for the worst . The man in charge of investigating the fire, Detective Superintendent Kevin Cooper was at the game. "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. Now they will begin another inquiry, into the cause of the Bradford fire. "[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. We went there to win the last game in front of a home crowd. Former Bradford midfielder John Hendrie, who was playing in the match: "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. The stand itself was engulfed in seconds, almost as if petrol had been ignited throughout the block. One man in tears said: 'He looked as if he was just going for a stroll. 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. he asks. 56 dead and hundreds more injured. The entrances to the stand were all at the rear and were higher than the rest of the ground. Although I was only 12 at the time, 11 May 1985 is a day. Below the seats were rows of litter which had piled up throughout the season, said witnesses. Valley Parade re-opened on 14 December 1986, when Bradford City beat an England XI 21 in a friendly. But all the people being treated, we formed a family, a bond.". [8][9] In the crowd were local dignitaries and guests from three of Bradford's twin townsVerviers in Belgium, and Mnchengladbach and Hamm in West Germany. He was asked if precautions would have been adequate had the club been in the Second Division. More than 250 others were injured in one of the. [11], The fire escalated very rapidly, and flames became visible; police started to evacuate the stand. 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.. Tarpaulin fell on them and stuck to their clothes and then ignited. Eight fires in the 18 years before the Bradford City fire were identified, many catastrophic and leading to large insurance payouts. And then suddenly, in the space of 120-odd seconds, it really kicked in. The team's coach, Mr Terry Yorath, ran on to the pitch to try to help people away from the stand. One family was in tears, the mother shaking. 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. "For the first minute people were laughing and joking, it wasn't anything serious. [8][10] Three men smashed down one door and at least one exit was opened by people outside, which again helped prevent further deaths. 'The smoke was very, very dense. 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. [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 was nearly double the season's average of 6,610 and included 3,000fans in the ground's main stand. I don't know where Falconer is getting this cock-and-bull story from the inaccuracies in this report [documentary] are dumbfounding. We had to run up the stairs, through the office doors and out on to the street. I had to put my jumper over his hair to put the blaze out. 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 wanted to record the trophy presentation. As many supporters still required rescue from the stand, they were unable to immediately start fighting the source of the fire. 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. From 50 to 60 yards away, it was burning our faces it was unbearable. More than 250 others were injured in one of the biggest disasters at a British football ground. Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). He asks the reader to make their mind up about whether these fires were a coincidence or not.". Bradford City continues to support the burns unit at the University of Bradford as its official charity. England won the re-match 64. The Bradford Burns Unit was set up by Professor David Sharpe after he received many of the victims following the fire. Saturday began for the fans in a carnival atmosphere at Bradford 's Valley Parade ground a short walk from the city centre. 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. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said. [52], On 1 May 2010, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fire the football TV show Football Focus was hosted from Valley Parade by Dan Walker, the show included interviews with Terry Yorath and John Hendrie. I ran to the stand and tried to help people escape. "[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. Called 'The 56' the play dramatises actual accounts of the Bradford City Fire with the purpose of the play showing how in times of adversity, the Football Club and the local community came together. The game was goalless after 40 minutes when play was stopped. [10][11], Bradford's Telegraph & Argus newspaper published a souvenir issue for 11 May, entitled, "Spit and Polish for the Parade Ground". Soon they were all running for their lives. There was some kind of disturbance near the edge of a block of seats in the G section of the main stand. A Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund raised 3.5m for the victims and their families. 'They did not have a chance. 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]. 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". 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. By the time they got back, the whole thing had taken off. 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. Steel was to be installed in the roof,[8] and the wooden terracing was to be replaced with concrete. 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. "It made me realise life is too short." 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. [53], In 1986, a year after the disaster, Yorkshire Television aired a documentary presented by John Helm entitled Bradford City A Year of Healing. The flames suddenly appeared and the whole roof took alight,' he said. 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. "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. "All I could see was eerie white lights that the fire brigade had set up and the smoke still in the sky. When Town reached the Midland Road side of the pitch, he was faced with horrific scenes of the injured being treated and comforted by ambulance crews, fans and players. It was an awful thing to watch.". It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernisation of many British football grounds within the following thirty years. 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 . Recommended The untold stories of the 1985 fire I have never had to deal with such a situation before, and this has put the city on its heels.'. [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. Town began to paint two years ago, first of the old Bradford Park Avenue ground, before moving onto other stadiums. 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. "We wouldn't normally have covered that game - no question about it. [19] One fan put his jumper over a fellow supporter's head to extinguish flames. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer.

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