Texas A & M University Bonfire Tragedy 11/18/99

At 2 am in the morning dozens of students were still working on constructing the annual homecoming bonfire.  Dozens or more than 100 others were watching.  Suddenly there was a loud cracking sound, and in about 5 - 7 seconds all was tragedy and chaos.   Eleven students were removed over the next 18 hours, dead, and a 12th died in the hospital.  There were 32 others injured, some severely with crushed pelvises, ribs, and/or pierced lungs.  Others, some of those involved with the rescue efforts, will live with the memory of the dying moans and calls for help of those who were trapped.

The bonfire, a 90-year-old tradition at A&M, is constructed with with the help of professional engineers, modern heavy machinery, and substantial attention to safety.   It has collapsed a couple of other years, 1957 and 1994, but with no serious injuries.  It is not yet known why the nearly-finished bonfire assembly of some 7,000 logs collapsed.

The 1999 bonfire a couple of hours before it collapsed.	Rescue teams working the next day.
Rescue workers.
Rescue workers.

Bonfire from a few years earlier. Unlike in the pictures above, there are no dying young people under these logs.

Whether this presentation belongs in the Chem Safety web site could be debated.   There is no clear lesson here except that something happened and it was terrible.  It happened even though everybody thought they were being careful enough.  It happened even though it hadn't ever happened in 90 years. It took the lives of 12 young people.  Was it preventable?