Texas A&M bonfire collapse 25 years later: Remembering 12 lives lost

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M bonfire has been a burning tradition in College Station since the early 1900s. Students first burned trash on campus to celebrate their football team, but eventually turned it into a burning desire to build a bonfire to mark their rivalry with the University of Texas Longhorns.

While it has served as a symbol of Aggie pride and resiliency for more than a century, it also broke world records with its size.

In 1999, a devastating collapse killed 12 students and injured 27 others, blamed on flawed construction and a lack of supervision.

Thousands of students joined forces at the Memorial at 2:42 a.m. on the 25th anniversary to keep the students' memories alive and to support those who are still grieving.

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We caught up with A&M alum Drew Gibson, who lives in College Station. He has a law office near campus, with plenty of bonfire memorabilia on hand. He showed us the hard hat, known as a redpot, that he wore while helping build bonfires in the 1980s and 90s.

"There were civilian students and Corps students, and we all worked together for a common goal and common purpose. I made lifelong friends out there, and we still hang out 30 years later," states Drew.

Mason Taylor has spent about 60 to 80 hours a week the past three weeks at the new bonfire site, run by students and not officially associated with the university. A lot of changes are in place to ensure its safety.

"Before 1999, it was built by stacking logs on top of each other, and they had a single center pole, which was spliced in the middle and wrapped together using wood glue and then a big steel cable. Now we have a single center pole, 65-foot center pole, that goes 15 feet in the ground, and then four sticks around it, which we call the window sticks, so they're 10 feet in the ground, and they're braced together in the middle with a metal brace. And then two years ago, we added the cross ties back to the top, so it's a super solid, rigid structure. And then, as well, we don't stack any logs on top of each other, so every single log touches the ground. So there at the very top, we call that first tier, instead of fifth stack, like it used to be. So first here is actually 32 foot logs coming all the way to the ground, and then it drops down in five foot increments," explains Mason.

REMEMBERING: Texas A&M Students React to Bonfire Collapse (1999)

The wood will soon light up, as thousands of students absorb its deep roots and meaning.

"You have all the core values of Aggies from bonfire, but out here is where it really comes to life. You have students out here volunteering significant amounts of their time. As Redpots, it's two years of our life here to come out and build this with nothing for reward other than seeing it burn. Now it's built a lot differently, but at the same time, it's a living memorial. So everyone out here that we wear in their helmets, we call them pots. You'll see the names of the 12 on their pots. A lot of people memorize the names of the 12 as Redpots. We study the commissioner's report as to how it was built and what made it collapse. So every day is a living memorial, but with the 25th anniversary it's definitely a little bit daunting. You can feel it sometimes out here," says Mason.

We also talked to some current A&M students who have heard about the bonfire their entire lives.

"My dad was on the bonfire crew. He was in the Corps for a semester. He just talked about how they would go to bonfire all night, sometimes before his classes and wouldn't even sleep. It was a really big deal for the Corps. They just cared a lot about the bonfire, cared a lot about the tradition. Just knew how important it was the entire school," says Jonathan Clark. "I think it's a very important tribute that should really remain a centerfold of our school, states Abby Tartaglia.

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Keaton Weiser believes the on-campus memorial is a special place for everyone to experience.

"It just feels like a place of history, it was always a tradition to go. You remember the 12 lives that are lost, and those portals there at the memorial from all the counties and places where they were from but passed, it just tells the story of history," says Keaton.

They now have something to look forward to with the upcoming bonfire, as the Aggie bond continues to burn as bright as ever.

Again, the bonfire is no longer sponsored by the university. The student-run bonfire is organized by students, and they have to privately fund it. It will take place on Friday, Nov. 29.  For more information visit https://bonfire.ag

For more about the memorial, click here.