Bradford City fire (May 1985)

[Guest worth_the_wait]

A very moving and powerful programme on TV last night, on the 40th anniversary of the Bradford City fire.

 

They described it as "the forgotten disaster", and it's amazing how many people barely know of it.   Everyone has heard of Hillsborough,  But the Bradford City fire on 11th May 1985 has almost been forgotten about by most people, although never by those from Bradford.

 

It was a truly awful disaster in which 56 people lost their lives.  For many of us, it was the first real disaster, that as football fans you could identify with.  And there was the disbelief that a football stand could completely go up in flames.   The speed at which it spread was almost unimaginable.   It was something like 4 mins from normality to total destruction.

 

To this day, I don't think I've ever heard a more moving live commentary than the local radio broadcast that day.   They were in the middle of that stand, and you can hear them telling the people around them something like "move away, careful now, come on, keep it moving, mind the children.".    And then within seconds you can hear the real concern in his voice as the fire gets nearer "quick, quick, come on, move it".   And a few seconds later it's pure fear "Now! we've got to go off air".   You can literally smell the absolute panic in those final few seconds".   

 

Within a couple of minutes of this commentary, 56 people have died:

 

 

 

[spacemunky]

Just listening to that got to me.

 

I remember hearing of it here in Canada, but it probably wasn't until many years later(via the internet) that I actually saw the footage from it.

[davieG]

I remember it well we were at home watching Grandstand and they were showing it live until it became distasteful to watch so many people in real danger like it was some disaster movie scene. 

[davieG]

Another forgotten one probably because it's Scottish

 

The Ibrox Disaster, which occurred on January 2, 1971, was a football disaster that resulted in 66 deaths and over 200 injuries at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow during an Old Firm match between Rangers and Celtic. The disaster occurred when a crush on a stairway during the match led to the deaths of 66 supporters. This was the worst football disaster in Britain until the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989. 

 

Here's a more detailed look:

• Cause:

  The disaster was caused by a crush on a stairway at the Copland Road side of the stadium. 

   
• Impact:

  66 people were killed and over 200 were injured in the incident. 

   
• Context:

  The event occurred during an Old Firm match between Rangers and Celtic, and the match was a high-profile derby. 

   
• Consequences:

  The disaster led to changes in stadium safety regulations and a greater emphasis on crowd control in football stadiums. 

   
• Legacy:

  The Ibrox Disaster is still remembered and mourned, with the families of those who died still struggling with the loss. 

   

[davieG]

Further back 

 

The 1902 Ibrox disaster was the collapse of a stand at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Govan (now part of Glasgow), Scotland. The collapse caused the deaths of 25 supporters, and injuries to 500 more during an international association football match between Scotland and England on 5 April 1902 as part of the 1901–02 British Home Championship.

 

 

The 1902 Ibrox disaster was the collapse of a stand at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Govan (now part of Glasgow), Scotland. The collapse caused the deaths of 25 supporters, and injuries to 500 more during an international association football match between Scotland and England on 5 April 1902 as part of the 1901–02 British Home Championship.

Ibrox Park had completed construction less than three years before the incident and was hosting its first international fixture, with the crowd estimated to be over 68,000. The match was the first time that the ground had been used at more than half capacity since its opening. Scotland entered the game needing only to avoid defeat to win the British Home Championship title. During the first half of the match, a section of the newly built West Tribune Stand collapsed, dropping between 200 and 300 people to the concrete floor below. Two spectators were declared dead at the scene, and a further twenty-three died of injuries sustained in the incident soon after, the last victim dying three weeks later.

Despite the collapse, the match was eventually resumed after a break as officials feared emptying crowds could interfere with rescue attempts and lead to further panic. The teams resumed the match, which ended in a 1–1 draw, although both the Scottish Football Association and the Football Association later agreed that the result should be voided. A replay was hastily organised and played a month later at Villa Park in Birmingham with all proceeds from the match being donated to a relief fund for victims of the disaster. The disaster led to an overhaul in stadium design, with wooden terraced stands being largely replaced by earth or concrete embankments.

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, worth_the_wait said:

 

They described it as "the forgotten disaster", and it's amazing how many people barely know of it.   Everyone has heard of Hillsborough,  But the Bradford City fire on 11th May 1985 has almost been forgotten about by most people, although never by those from Bradford.

 

It's interesting because I can tell you exactly where I was when the Heysel disaster happened two weeks later (and for Hillsborough), but not when Valley Parade happened. Strange.

 

[davieG]

26 minutes ago, Izzy said:

It's interesting because I can tell you exactly where I was when the Heysel disaster happened two weeks later (and for Hillsborough), but not when Valley Parade happened. Strange.

 

Probably because these two events are and have been reminded of on every anniversary

[Guest worth_the_wait]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

It's interesting because I can tell you exactly where I was when the Heysel disaster happened two weeks later (and for Hillsborough), but not when Valley Parade happened. Strange.

 

I was thinking a similar thing.   I can remember exactly where I was when I heard news of major disasters, or deaths of famous people.   But I don't have any recollection of when I actually heard about the Bradford fire.  I've been thinking about it, and I think the reason for it is this ...

 

With disasters such as Heysel and Hillsborough, it was obvious within an hour that there were a large number of deaths.   So on first hearing about it, you'd be shocked by the severity of it.   The magnitude of it, became instantly apparent.   

 

But with the Bradford fire, I don't think anyone knew of the severity until the fire had been put out.   It had looked like most people had managed to get out of the stand onto the pitch.   So the first news report would presumably have been along the lines of "the main stand at Bradford had burnt down" ... accompanied by pictures of 1000's of people on the pitch.   But no real indication of fatalities.     It was only when the fire had been fully extinguished, that the gruesome horrors of all the people dying at the back of the stand became apparent.   And then the following day the news reports would have escalated it not just as a fire, but as a terrible loss of life.

[Plastik Man]

3 hours ago, davieG said:

I remember it well we were at home watching Grandstand and they were showing it live until it became distasteful to watch so many people in real danger like it was some disaster movie scene. 

I also remember watching it live on Saturday afternoon TV.

 

I think it may have actually been World of Sport as it was the ITV (Yorkshire TV) cameras at the game, with John Helm ending up providing a live commentary to the horrific scenes. 😢

[foxy boxing]

Officially its a tragic accident but there have been rumours over the years it was deliberate set up or arson as an insurance job. Whether there is any truth in that or whether there was a police investigation into suspicions. The tragedy should never have been allowed to happen.

[ajthefox]

In my first fire safety lecture as part of my architecture degree they showed us this.

 

Neeeless to say it stuck with me like no other. It's hard to believe the whole place goes up so quick.

 

The reason for much of our legislation on buildings unfortunately is bad things happening and with fire more specifically it is invariably the significant loss of life.

Edited 12 May 2025 by ajthefox
Wording

[Nalis]

First time I saw the video of the Bradford City was around 15 years ago, still shocks me now how the fire spread so quickly and lots of moments like the poor guy being batted down while he was on fire. Horrible for those to go through and also for those to witness.

[Super_horns]

1 hour ago, Plastik Man said:

I also remember watching it live on Saturday afternoon TV.

 

I think it may have actually been World of Sport as it was the ITV (Yorkshire TV) cameras at the game, with John Helm ending up providing a live commentary to the horrific scenes. 😢

ITV did a documentary with his commentary on .

 

Very sad .

 

Horrible and horrific .

 

RIP to the 56.

[The boy Linacre]

I read a book about it 10 years ago called:

Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire 

It was a stunning and harrowing read, The author Martin Fletcher went to the game:

Twelve-year-old Martin Fletcher was at Valley Parade that day, celebrating Bradford's promotion to the second flight, with his dad, brother, uncle and grandfather. Martin was the only one of them to survive the fire - the biggest loss suffered by a single family in any British football disaster.

From what I remember he was in a corridor at the back of the stand and came face to face with some girls in the melee, one of them was Gabby Yorath.

If you can get it, read it.  It was shortlisted for the 2015 William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

[Izzy]

Just watched the documentary. So many emotions.

 

Thought it was very respectful. Had me in tears at the end tbh

[MattFox]

They show the full footage (or did do) in a lot of fire safety and emergency training courses

[Izzy]

3 minutes ago, MattFox said:

They show the full footage (or did do) in a lot of fire safety and emergency training courses

They cover this in the documentary. One of the firemen on duty that day shows how he uses the footage in training courses now.

 

Incredible how the whole stand goes up in less than 4 minutes. Really scary.

[fox_up_north]

I've lived/ worked around both Lincoln and Bradford. It's such an overlooked and forgotten tragedy. It happened so fast, as well.