Bradford fire - 37 years ago on May 11th

MrOneLung said:

North Lower Neil said:

Chippycafc said:

Truly dreadful day, will never forget the picture of the man trying to climb over the wall with either his coat or hair on fire. God rest those that perished and thoughts with their families. 

Worse was the poor bloke they focused in on who was just wandering around alight, before people in the crowd tried to help him by smothering him with coats etc.  I understand he died of the injuries, just a horrific sight and a horrible way to go.

RIP the 56 who died.

I know we moan about modem identikit stadiums and pine for the middle of housing, 4 different stands etc type stadiums, but thank goodness the new ones prevent things like the Bradford fire & the Hillsborough and Ibrox crushes.

that is the image that stays with me too.

Not running, or flailing around, just walking ablaze.

RIP all

Exactly, must have been shock, or even just the brain switching off by that point.  It was just so surreal and horrific, as you say it sticks with you.

Crusty54 said:

A video of the fire is used for fire safety training. I have seen it on several courses over the years. It is something you can never forget.

Yup, same.

It's the speed of it that's crazy, I know it was probably burning the rubbish under the concourse for a while before it became obvious but the fact it's "oh, look, there's a bit of a fire" to the whole stand being gone and people obviously being in trouble in about 2 mins is just terrifying.

I have seen the video of the fire many times on training courses about fire prevention and safety.

It was a terrible event.

RIP

Crusty54 said:

I have seen the video of the fire many times on training courses about fire prevention and safety.

It was a terrible event.

So have I, we had 2 days on health and safety, the first day featured (not the corrected word) the Bradford fire, it was the full fire brigade film, really distressing and many didn’t make it to the end (think I heard they won’t show it now, just a very edited version). Second day was the piper alpha disaster, which again was horrific as they didn’t stand a chance. It was probably the 2 worse days of my life. But both accidents highlighted how a series of minor errors can lead to catastrophic outcome.

Bradford fire was a terrible event (as was piper alpha) it should have never happened.

soapy_jones said:

I clearly remember the scene unfolding on TV.  Like Heysel it will stick in my mind till the day I die.

This. It was the most appalling thing I ever saw. I cried then and get emotional now that fans safety was not given any thought by the football owners or powers that be.

Seen the video a few times and the actual speed of the fire is staggering.