The heat was so intense it caused car windows to shatter in the street. Samuel Firth, a founder of the supporters' club, was the oldest victim at 86 four 11-year-old boys were the youngest. 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. 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.īradford City fans pay tribute to the 56 fans who died the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 Getty Images They wouldn't let us because then people would get in the way of fire engines, ambulances and police trying to get in. "I remember not being able to watch it, but we couldn't get out. From 50 to 60 yards away, it was burning our faces – it was unbearable. "We couldn't help because there were so many people streaming towards us, to our side of the pitch, to get away from the heat. 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 is unbelievable how quickly the fire took hold. No fire extinguishers had been installed over fears of vandalism and less than four minutes after the fire was reported, the fire had engulfed the whole stand. 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. Spread by the wind, the wooden roof, which was covered with tarpaulin and sealed with asphalt and bitumen, caught fire. "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. 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. "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. At 3.40pm, five minutes before half-time, a glowing light was spotted three rows from the back of block G. Bradford City had just won the Third Division Championship and a record number of spectators – over 11,000 – had turned out to see the club presented with its first piece of league silverware in 56 years.Īfter 40 minutes of the first half, fans had begun to complain about the drab match and the 0-0 score. The mood before the match on the against Lincoln City was one of jubilation. "I was supposed to meet my father at my grandfather's house, but I was a bit late so I went straight to the game so I didn't miss the festivities." We sat in the main stand the week before, but we had decided to move on that day," he says. "I was in the stand opposite when the fire broke out. Mike Harrison, the editor of the Bradford City Football Club fanzine The City Gent, was there on the day. Thirty years on, the majority of survivors still find it too difficult to talk about what happened at the Valley Parade on. Crowds on the pitch at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium after the stand caught fire Getty Imagesįifty-six people were killed, 265 were injured and thousands bore witness to the worst fire disaster in the history of English football.
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