Texas A&M Bonfire Overview

     Football is as big in Texas as the sky is wide. Rivalries don't come any bigger than the one between the Texas A&M Aggies and the University of Texas Longhorns. At Thanksgiving each year, the two teams face off for the bragging rights of Texas college football. Pregame rituals abound at both universities but A&M, with its strong ROTC program, has military precision, rigor, and ritual to its rallies. The Bonfire is one such tradition. Commencing as a trash fire ignited on the eve of the Big Game in 1909, the Bonfire became larger than life, literally, tragically. In 1999, over 5,000 students committed 125,000 manhours collecting and assembling over 8,000 logs for the bonfire. During construction, it collapsed. Twelve students were killed and 25 survivors were rushed to hospitals.

     The bonfire had become a symbol of Aggie pride. Over the years, pride and honor drove the Aggies to build higher and better fires. In 1912, students "borrowed" lumber to be used in building a new dorm. In 1935, they tore down a farmer's barn for the wood. In 1965, the structure exceeded 110 feet. In 1954 and 1994, bonfires toppled. Administration intervened, making new rules but implicitly supporting the school spirit. It set the height limit to 55 feet and moved the fire to the isolated Polo Field in order to reduce the risk of the fire spreading to other buildings. Polo Field is where the 12 students died.

     In order to create a towering fire, students abandoned the usual teepee structure and began using a wedding cake design which involved layers of logs around a center pole. Early wedding cakes used steel rods to fortify the base but at some point this safety precaution was abandoned because it increased the speed of the fire. A classic bonfire should last at least 30 minutes. 700 gallons of diesel fuel soaked the logs to insure a splendid glow. Because of the height and complexity of the structure, rules were established restricting work on the upper layers to upperclassmen. However, 10 of the 12 students killed in the accident were freshman and sophomores. Students designed and supervised the structure with little if any professional guidance. The structure was considered safe because the design had worked for many years, yet modifications over the course of time eroded the original stipulations.

     The drift towards failure can be traced over the 90-year tradition. The fire grew more dangerous, injury rates increased, yet critics were hushed by the overwhelming Aggie pride. This cultural tunnel vision blinded administration to the growing dangers of the bonfire, setting the stage over the course of many years for the inevitable tragedy.