Bradford fire anniversary

[stressederic]

Service for Bradford fire victims

 

The charred remains of the stand that burned down at Valley Parade

People in Bradford have held a minute's silence to remember those who lost their lives in the Valley Parade football stadium fire in 1985.

 

It is the 24th anniversary of the disaster in which 56 people died.

 

A memorial service, including prayers, has been hosted by the Lord Mayor in Centenary Square.

 

The Lord Mayor said: "This is an incredibly significant date for the people and the city of Bradford to come together and remember."

 

 

606: IN MEMORY

My thoughts are with the families left behind and a prayer for those no longer with us

 

Wamphyri

An investigation held after the fire, which broke out during a game between Bradford and Lincoln, found that it was probably caused by a lit cigarette dropped under the Valley Parade stand, igniting litter underneath the steps.

 

The day had started out as one of celebration as Bradford players paraded the old Division Three championship trophy around the ground before kick-off.

 

It marked City's return to the second tier of English football for the first time since before the Second World War.

 

But 54 Bradford supporters and two Lincoln fans lost their lives as flames engulfed the antiquated main stand.

 

Bradford Council leader Kris Hopkins and the mayor and mayoress of Lincoln also attended the service.

 

BBC News

 

Another terrible disaster. The pictures of the fire are just horrific. Really scary stuff.

[R A Softlad]

5 mins it took to set the whole stand alight - frightening.

 

RIP the 54!

[ManxRed]

I've been the company Fire Rep at a couple of places I work at and the Fire Brigade use that footage in training sessions to demonstrate how quickly fire can spread. Its not pleasant viewing, and is astonishing in the speed in which it takes hold, considering that its a stand opening onto a football pitch (which you'd think people would be able to escape to relatively easily). Not so.

 

Terrible tragedy.

 

R.I.P.

[Andy @ Allerton]

RIP

 

We had to watch the whole thing as part of steward training at LFC.

 

Horrific and very, very sad.

 

[smithdown]

There was a fella in front of me in the main stand for the Villa game that day, he had one of those antwacky tv/radio thingys, he got grandstand on it after fiddling with the aerial and we were all watching the scenes from Bradford on this little tiny screen while waiting for results to come in. Remember being gobsmacked when I got home to find out people had died. Seemed ridiculous that there was no escape from a big stand out in the open like that.

 

RIP.

[stressederic]

I seem to remember that loads of the doors at the back of the stand were locked and that fire extinguishers had been removed to prevent "hooliganism". So that when people at the back tried to get out...

[D.Boon]

I seem to remember that loads of the doors at the back of the stand were locked and that fire extinguishers had been removed to prevent "hooliganism". So that when people at the back tried to get out...

 

Fire exits were padlocked.

 

Ive sat through the vid manxred is on about its pretty hoffific stuff.

[stressederic]

Fire exits were padlocked.

 

Ive sat through the vid manxred is on about its pretty hoffific stuff.

 

Makes my skin crawl that.

[Billy Dane]

Fire exits were padlocked.

 

Shocking. Another example of how fans were treated in the 80's. Can't imagine the fire exits at the Royal Opera House being padlocked.

 

 

RIP.

[Sion]

Terribly sad. RIP.

[D.Boon]

There is a weird bit from the footage of a dad and his son at the far end of the stand away from where the fire started. Bearing in mind the severity of the blaze and that it took only minutes to engulf the entire stand, the guy just didnt budge, watching what was unfolding in front of him and refused to move until the flames had swept the whole length of the stand and where just about to touch them. At that point he picked his kid up and jumped onto the pitch.

 

Really strange.

[Andy @ Allerton]

There is a weird bit from the footage of a dad and his son at the far end of the stand away from where the fire started. Bearing in mind the severity of the blaze and that it took only minutes to engulf the entire stand, the guy just didnt budge, watching what was unfolding in front of him and refused to move until the flames had swept the whole length of the stand and where just about to touch them. At that point he picked his kid up and jumped onto the pitch.

 

Really strange.

 

 

Maybe shock. People do strange things in shock.

[stressederic]

There is a weird bit from the footage of a dad and his son at the far end of the stand away from where the fire started. Bearing in mind the severity of the blaze and that it took only minutes to engulf the entire stand, the guy just didnt budge, watching what was unfolding in front of him and refused to move until the flames had swept the whole length of the stand and where just about to touch them. At that point he picked his kid up and jumped onto the pitch.

 

Really strange.

 

I watched a program a few weeks or so back about the responses of people in the WTC on 9/11. A large portion of it was devoted to a guy who had investigated various disasters across decades and had seen people behave incredibly strangely in the face of a fire, to the point where even when the rooms in the WTC were filling up with smoke people were still finishing emails etc. He said it's really common for people to sort of shut down when confronted with fire.

[psl]

Just read this. Unbelievable.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_fire_disaster

 

American television network FOX TV controversially aired footage of the disaster in the programme When Good Times Go Bad 3. They incorrectly blamed supporters for deliberately starting the fire; and the program used offensive analogies such as "as rabid as American fans can get, they can't hold a candle to soccer fans around the world".

[stressederic]

Just read this. Unbelievable.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_fire_disaster

 

American television network FOX TV controversially aired footage of the disaster in the programme When Good Times Go Bad 3. They incorrectly blamed supporters for deliberately starting the fire; and the program used offensive analogies such as "as rabid as American fans can get, they can't hold a candle to soccer fans around the world".

 

Not even remotely surprised.

[psl]

Not even remotely surprised.

 

Even as I was writing 'unbelivable', it struck me that it really isn't.