#Bradford fire man on fire plus#
Aided by a strong breeze which seemed to push the flames and smoke at a rapid rate, the combination of this plus the material the roof was made of, and of course the wooden stand itself, all combined with devastating effect At first, fans seemed to take their time, but very quickly, for many it became a desperate scramble for safety. In describing what happened next, it still seems incredible that the fire spread from one end of the stand to the other in just over four minutes. But the small fire quickly escalated and large flames could be seen and that is when fans started to take it more seriously and started to evacuate the stand and as many climbed over the wall on to the pitch which caused the game to be stopped.
From my viewpoint it appeared that the policemen close by were ushering people away, perhaps waiting for someone to come along with a fire extinguisher to arrive to put the fire out. How quickly did the fire escalate and what was the response from your fellow spectators in the area where you were and in other parts of the ground?Īt first, people didn’t seem to take the ‘small’ fire seriously and most continued to still watch the game as it continued to be played. I remember going to ask the policeman who was stood by the corner flag near to us what was happening and he said “it was under controlâ€. Sadly, because of the era of football hooliganism at the time, it was easy to jump to that conclusion, but it soon became apparent that the reason fans had moved was because wisps of smoke could be seen emerging from the stand. I think most people’s initial thoughts were that possibly a fight or scuffle had taken place. What were the first indications that something was very wrong and that it was something a lot more serious than a minor scuffle spilling out onto the pitch? We were stood in line with the edge of the penalty box at the Bradford end, therefore diagonally opposite where the fire started. I was stood on the Midland Road side of the ground in the small standing area opposite the main stand. Where exactly were you inside Valley Parade that day in relation to the stand where the fire occurred? The game was meaningless, but you wanted to be there to witness a bit of history and celebrate promotion to Division Two as champions. There was an air of anticipation in the air as a crowd of just over 11,000 people gathered to witness Bradford City receive a trophy, the first the club had won since 1929. What are your memories of the build up to that game with Lincoln City? It was a promotion party, a bumper crowd and no doubt the mood was joyous? In the latest of our look at some of the worst disasters to happen at football matches, MARK GODFREY talks to Mike Harrison – editor of The City Gent fanzine and Bradford City fan – to discuss the tragic events at Valley Parade 30 years ago May 11th 1985.
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