Bradford City Fire

[MightyHawks]

Yes this isn't an AFL stadium, but it's an often discussed incident - and the disaster had a huge impact on stadiums around the world - how they are constructed / fire safety etc

If you've never watched this before it is confronting footage:



Stumbled upon this story about the incident today:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/15/the-story-of-the-bradford-fire-book-extract

 

[Lyttelton Ranger]

Yes this isn't an AFL stadium, but it's an often discussed incident - and the disaster had a huge impact on stadiums around the world - how they are constructed / fire safety etc

If you've never watched this before it is confronting footage:

That's the first time I've seen or heard about this. As you say, it is quite confronting footage, especially towards the end.
It's a pity also what happened at Hillsborough a few years later and they didn't learn the lessons about the crush that can result when people start panicking.

 

[Kingpin]

A very old and decrepit stand built into the side of the hill. Been there since about 1908. Rubbish had been allowed to accumulate underneath the wooden seats in the rear section (where the fire started) since the 1960s.
Coupled with the fact that the roof itself was wooden, and was covered both on the inside and outside with flammable roofing tar to try and stop the amount of leaks it had, it was a recipe for disaster.
Also the rear doors were either bolted shut or boarded up in many instances.
The narrow corridors made exiting the stand slow as well as the brick wall at the front was chest high and hard to climb.
The melting tar actually burned a lot of people and fused some victims together.
The sad irony of all of that was that the stand was due to have both its roof and wooden seating section in the rear half removed the week following this match after being given a grant from the league following winning their division that season.
Had a big impact on modern safety standards all across the planet and made stadium owners look at how they kept their stadiums in the future.

 

[Tandy]

Yes this isn't an AFL stadium, but it's an often discussed incident - and the disaster had a huge impact on stadiums around the world - how they are constructed / fire safety etc

If you've never watched this before it is confronting footage:



Stumbled upon this story about the incident today:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/15/the-story-of-the-bradford-fire-book-extract

Killed 56 and injured 265 people.
Awful to see and hear the celebrations as its burning but it soon stopped when they realised people were burning alive.

 

[MightyHawks]

A very old and decrepit stand built into the side of the hill. Been there since about 1908. Rubbish had been allowed to accumulate underneath the wooden seats in the rear section (where the fire started) since the 1960s.
Coupled with the fact that the roof itself was wooden, and was covered both on the inside and outside with flammable roofing tar to try and stop the amount of leaks it had, it was a recipe for disaster.
Also the rear doors were either bolted shut or boarded up in many instances.
The narrow corridors made exiting the stand slow as well as the brick wall at the front was chest high and hard to climb.
The melting tar actually burned a lot of people and fused some victims together.
The sad irony of all of that was that the stand was due to have both its roof and wooden seating section in the rear half removed the week following this match after being given a grant from the league following winning their division that season.
Had a big impact on modern safety standards all across the planet and made stadium owners look at how they kept their stadiums in the future.

The saddest part about it is that it seems reasonably likely that it was a deliberately lit insurance job

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/15/the-story-of-the-bradford-fire-book-extract

 

[Kingpin]

The saddest part about it is that it seems reasonably likely that it was a deliberately lit insurance job

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/15/the-story-of-the-bradford-fire-book-extract

I've read that theory but in all honesty, it's clutching at very thin straws.
Yes, Stafford Heginbotham had a reputation in business for having fires at his various premises where his Tybro Toys factories were based at, but given that he was seated in the centre part of the front section of the stand (which had plastic seats and cement floor) in the Directors Box, and the fire started in the rear section of the very end of the stand where the seating was wooden, right behind that yellow wooden wall with "G" on it (Block G), it's not at all possible.
Not only that but they interviewed every spectator seated in the rows where the fire originated and eventually found the culprit, an elderly former Bradfordian that had been living in Adelaide, SA for several years, who had flown home to watch the match with his son.
He'd dropped a cigarette on the floor to crush it out but it fell through a gap and ended up lighting up a 4 foot deep pile of rubbish which spread.
It was a horribly poorly kept stadium that was a disaster waiting to happen.
I'm surprised the club and council didn't get sued for millions over the state of neglect which caused so mant deaths and injuries.