Mainly for those who were involved in Bonfire at the time, but for all to share...

I was a sophomore in the Fightin' Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets, and a member of Texas A&M EMS/Emergency Care Team. Hearing that there was supposed to be a meteor shower that night, I went with friends to the best place we could think of to get away from city lights, the back side of Easterwood Airport on Nuclear Science Road.

Around 11pm, we figured the meteor shower was over and headed back to the dorm. As we drove by stack, I thought something looked odd, but couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe it was my eyes, and I blew it off and headed to bed. At 2:46am, my EMS pager woke me up with the message "Bonfire stack just collapsed, need additional help, go to stack site". I got dressed and ran out of the dorm and saw one of my upperclassmen in the hallway. When he asked where I was going in such a hurry, I told him what had happened, and to wake everyone up and take accountability... some of our guys had talked of working on stack that night.

My stomach hit the ground as I passed in front of the Systems building saw the stack, as I knew how many people were probably working on it. I worked for several hours until the ankle I twisted coming down the last flight of stairs in the dorm got to me, and I was sent away.

Like many others, the faces and names haunted me for months, and to this day I can't look at the pictures of the fallen 12 without choking back tears. I have visited the memorial one time and don't think I can go back, as the flood of emotions is too much. Even the mention of the word "Bonfire" brings a swell of emotions, and if I continue to think about it, the emotions overtake me. Aggie Bonfire is the one thing that will forever bring tears to my eyes.

God bless those departed souls and the families they left behind.

Camped out for tu tickets. I remember someone running over to Kyle Field from stack and saying they needed people with first aid certification.

Was also camped out with my brothers & their friends. We had just driven by stack about an hour earlier to get some food. A few of us were still awake when 3 guys ran by with the look of terror on their faces & saying that "stack fell!" My oldest brother had been in the corps & was a 5th senior now & he was sleeping in the car, but I knew some of his buddies were still very active in Bonfire & were probably out there. After we made our first trip to stack & saw what had happened, one of the guys I was with turned & told me "go get your brother." Some of his buddies were camping out with us & I sped back to Rollie & woke the rest of our group up & we headed back.

Me and my fish buddies had finished a stack shift on the morning of the 17th, so we got a bag-in and used it to it's fullest potential. I stayed up late that night studying for a Math 141 test and had just hit the bag when a runner came through the dorms saying that stack had fallen.

I threw on my grodes and ran out to site to help out. Because I had CPR training, a pot, and pliers; I was allowed to help start freeing logs and hauling them off in make-shift crews.

I'll never forget calling my parents at 6am, taking the first break of the morning, to tell them that stack had fallen, I was ok and I loved them, but I had to get back to work.

-------------------------------------------------------
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a Soldier.

I was on shift with FHK the night stack fell, and I will always remember the twelve we lost, and the many that were injured.

My pot line ended that night with Chad Powell's passing, as I was going to choose him to hold my position the following year.

Despite the pain and anguish of that fateful night, I will always cherish my memories of cut, stack, swamp, grode stories, and all of the other amazing things that made Bonfire great.

Tonight will be a long and solemn one.

[This message has been edited by kyleag02 (edited 11/17/2009 5:19p).]

My best man was on 3rd stack swing back then. Survived the fall along with his soon to be roommate. Should be at Reed tonight. I need to call and make sure.

Sophomore year. I was in a 4th stack swing from 6 - midnight. Although I have a slight uneasiness with heights, I loved being on stack. There's nothing like it. Relatively few people got that perspective of Bonfire. Just something about being up there and looking down at all the activity below and around stack. It's tough to describe.

I guess I got into bed around 1 or 2. Seems like I dreamed the phone rang. When it rang again around 3am, it was my Brother. He said stack fell and for a few seconds I thought he was joking. When I knew he was serious I put my grodes back on and went back to the site, still not believing what I saw. By then, I think only "official" rescue workers were being allowed around the collapse. I found a few people I knew, and asked about some I didn't see.

Can't remember what time it was they let us come back in to help move logs. Stayed there until that afternoon when there wasn't anything else we could do. Came back later, still in a daze, until they pulled out the last victim, Miranda.

at home in bed. roommate and i had just left stack around 12:00 that morning. she came in and woke me up around 4:30, and told me it had fallen. i remember telling her in my half-asleep state "don't worry. we'll rebuild it like they did in '95 when it collapsed." and she said "no...kids are trapped." i jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes, and we drove straight to stack. for me, it's the sound of helicopters that sticks out in my mind when i think of that day.

I was in London for a business trip. I had just graduated and we were having a huge seminar for the company I used to work for (telecom). We had been out all night at the pubs and I got back to my hotel at about 3 am. Called my girlfriend at the time (remember this was before cell phones) and she said "have you heard about Bonfire?!?!?" Obviously I hadn't. Had a hard time sleeping that night. I still have the London paper the next day that had a full-page article about it. I lived in Crocker for two years and was really into Bonfire my freshman year when it fell the first time ('94). Major bummer...

That was my senior year. I had come out to stack with one of my Bonfire brothers to check on progress of the stack and see how our dorm was doing. We climbed up to 4th stack, checking on all the FHK'ers on our way up. We had a good group out at stack that night with plenty of red ass fish out there mixed in with some of the older crowd. I remember stopping to talk to several on the way up and telling them what a great job they were doing, and being proud of all of 'em.

The 2 of us hung out on 4th stack for a few minutes, taking in the sights and sounds of bonfire before deciding to get down to head to the cookie shack... we were old after all... and the guys on 4th stack had work to do. We walked up to the cookie shack and came back to a perimeter fire to finish off our snack. With our feet literally in the fire to stay warm, we heard a loud pop and watched horrified and helplessly as Bonfire fell. Horrible sight… and horrible sounds.

Today, 10 years later, I am thankful for my Bonfire family. I am thinking of them, as I know they are of me.

I was working in the Amazon jungle right out of school and read about it online. I called my brother and girlfriend(now wife) who were students to make sure they were ok. That day was in a daze for me. I spend the previous for years of my life building bonfire. I lost a vehicle in a rollover coming back from cut. It didnt bother me because it was bonfire. In the back of my head I knew it could fall. We had just rebuilt one that shifted. I just never thought it would happen. No way this was happening.

Its going to be a long rough night.

[This message has been edited by Comeby! (edited 11/17/2009 5:21p).]

In my dorm asleep. Had an exam that night and decided to skip stack to catch up on sleep. It was one of two bonfire events that I skipped that semester. My RA woke me up to tell me what happened. Turned on the O&M camera in disbelief, then ran as fast as I could out there. I don't know what time it was, but they were still setting up lights when I got there. I was one of the few with a cell phone and called my mom while running, telling her I was ok and to call dad letting him know what happened. Then I leant my phone out for others to do the same.

Dropped out of A&M the next semester and came back 2 years ago. I had to put the Batt down today because I was starting to tear up while reading it.




[This message has been edited by robertf03 (edited 11/17/2009 5:32p).]

In Navasota with friends watching the meteor shower. Drove past Bonfire about 2:30 just glancing towards it. Got into my dorm room on Northgate. heard the pots making noise around 3AM. I figured they were being stupid. Woke up at 6AM to take a shower to get ready to work at the ticket office. Came back into my room with three messages on the answering machine. Turned on the TV and broke down.

It was my first year in Aggieland (sophomore status), and I had been helping OCA with cut/unload. We were scheduled to be out there that night for stack, but switched with a corps outfit. I was asleep when Bonfire fell. My dad called me at 5am and asked if I was ok (knowing I had been helping with Bonfire). I had no idea what he was talking about. As soon as he said there were students trapped in it, I was up and out the door. I called all of my friends and we decided to head out to the site and help out. I can remember every detail of that day. I can still see, hear, and smell everything. The image of the stack and the many people out there helping (including the football team/coaches) will stick with me. I didn't know him at the time, but one of my best friends (same guy that AGGIESPORTSFAN07 referred to) was on the stack and was injured.

I can't believe it's been 10 years. This is something that will always stick with me (and I tie it in with my birthday since it's only 3 days before Nov. 18th).

I was still in high school at the time. I remember reading about it but did not fully comprehending the significance of the tragedy until I came to A&M. The president of my sorority was a fish when the stack fell, and I can still remember her horrific account.

Was a senior in high school. Saw it on the morning news.

That was my first senior year.

Never having lived on campus, I never got too involved in Bonfire. That is one of the biggest regrets of my time at A&M.

Got a call around 4 in the morning from my girlfriend telling me what happened. Got to campus around 6 - I knew that I wasn't going to be able to do anything to help - went to my 8am class, then headed out to stack. I left a short time later to survey the hospitals looking for friends, hoping like hell they weren't hurt, or weren't hurt bad.

When I finally got back to Stack, I didn't leave until they pulled the last logs from the pile. And unfortunately, the last body as well.

That was a day I will never forget.

It was A&M's worst day. It was also A&M's best day.

Working the midnight to six stack shift with the rest of my FHK friends. I wasn't a climber, too scared of heights. I always worked first stack ground. Somehow I ended up getting placed on the opposite side from the rest of the dorm and the side that stayed mostly upright.

I will be forever grateful for the friendships and memories I had with my dorm and with Bonfire. I think about Mike, Chad, Jaime, and their families often and I am a better person for having known them, even if just for a few short months.

I was a junior then, had taken a Finance 341 exam that night then gone out to G Rollie to meet some friends and camp out for tu tickets. Didn't hear the collapse but we heard lots of sirens. I remember a huge prayer circle forming almost immediately, dozens of strangers sitting on the ground holding hands and praying for our classmates. I remember calling the OCA crew chief to see if they were on shift or not, since I'd seen our crew out that night. Fortunately they were safe and off of stack. That morning as the sun rose and people began arriving for class, I could tell with just a glance who knew and who thought it was just another Thursday.

10 years later, I continue to believe that while the Bonfire collapse was the worst tragedy in school history, it was also the 12th Man's finest hour. No other event or tradition, even the building and burning of Bonfire itself, showed the Aggie Spirit better than the way the Aggie family came together in those days and weeks, from local businesses donating chicken in the MSC, to the Aggie football team taking time from practice to help move logs, to the medics who worked to free those they could, to those who waited in line for hours to give blood, and for those who stood in tribute at the candlelight vigil and Yell Practice. I've never been prouder to be an Aggie.

I remember being at the memorial & it was raining & thinking if it had just rained that night & why God would let this happen.

Man, tonight is hard.

I cant believe this was 10 years ago!

On the other hand, it sometimes feels like a life-time ago.

In my room at Crocker. Doesn't feel like 10 years. I remember that night very vividly.

I was watching the bonfire channel living in the dorms. It was on in the background as my suitemates and I were still up studying. We didn't know what happened when it all went black but found out real quickly upon further inspection.

I was asleep in my apartment.

Lived in Treehouse just across from Olson. I had been in the library annex studding until about midnight. On the top floor there was a great view of the stack from the east facing windows. So whenever I took a study break I would walk over and just gaze out the window at it.

Phone rang in the middle of the night with a buddy telling me what had happened. At first I was confused, and I told him they would just rebuild it like in '96. Then he told me how things were really bad.

By the time we got up the next morning it was all over the news, there were helicopters circling, and the world was a very gray place. I was supposed to have a cell biology exam that morning, so I walked over to class. It was canceled, so my girlfriend and I just followed everybody else out to the fields.

I was three years out of school. I was sort of a non-traditional student, and was married most of my time at A&M in College Station, so I didn't work on Bonfire. I had just moved back to College Station for a job in August, and I was living at the Arbors of Wolf Pen Creek, right across from the new fire station.

I got off work about 1 a.m. and went home, watched some TV, then went to bed. I had trouble sleeping because I kept hearing sirens, and wondered where all the fires were. I got a call about 5 a.m. and couldn't believe what happened. My wife and I and went out to stack, and saw the aftermath. I remember the helicopters, and the students standing behind the police line, watching others move logs and look for those still trapped.

My dorm had stacked 12-6 on the 17th. Unfortunately I had a group project for Engr111 that was due that morning and spent our stack shift in front of a computer finalizing the presentation. The morning of the 18th I was sound asleep until our chainsaw pot busted into my room turned on the lights and told me to get my grodes on. My first thought when he said it fell was the stories I'd heard from '94 and thought "cool." While I was tying my boots I flipped to the webcam and those thoughts of "cool" were immediately changed and I began to get that terrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

We jumped in trucks and raced down University Dr. We got there shortly after 3am, and by then all we could really do was stand around. A call went out for first aid training, I went to perimiter and was then turned back. A few minutes later a call went out for pliers and wire cutters. Again I went forward thinking I'd get to help. I was told to give them my pliers. Shortly afterwards we moved from where we were standing on the University drive side over to the grass by PA 52 and split into work crews. I was put into a crew of 12 or 14 guys that consisted of ~half CT's and half guys from my dorm. That was when I was finally able to borrow a cell phone and call the folks. I talked to my mother last night and she still remembers that conversation word for word.

I was a senior anxiously awaiting for the next day to pick up my Aggie Ring. Little did I know that everytime I would look at my Aggie Ring that I would remember so much more...

I was a freshman in High School. I had always wanted to go to Bonfire but it was during the playoff and I always thought that I would wait until I was in college. My sister was a senior in High School and I believe she was already admitted to A&M. My mom woke us up at 5am when she saw the news. We set there just watching the news in amazement.

I was lucky to go to one game a year. Each time I would go by the stack and pick up an end piece that the chain saw cut off. That trash piece was special to a kid who dreamed of going to A&M. They are still on my bookshelf to this day and I think about the 12 (even though I never knew them) every time I see them.

I got a call about 4:30 in the morning from the wife of a fellow redpot from my class asking me if I knew where my son was and that the stack had fallen. I was off doing that Wall Street shuffle at the time and not close enough to be more involved. I did do an interview that morning by phone with a Houston paper, but was leery about opening up much from a redpot’s standpoint for fear of comments being taken out of context or being twisted to support some hidden agenda.

On IRC as usual :


<[Rip]> holy ****! bonfire fell!
<[Rip]> look at channel 83
<TwistPr> haha that wouldn't help
<[Rip]> i **** ye not!
<Thorfinn> of course it did
<[Rip]> this is BAD!
<Thorfinn> say aggie wod
<Thorfinn> aggie word
<[Rip]> I AM NOT KIDDING!
<[Rip]> AGGIE WORD
<Tho...rfinn> HOLY FUICK
<[Rip]> THIS IS BAD!
<TwistPr> ****
<Thorfinn> HOLY ****
<Thorfinn> Grab a pot boys
<TwistPr> did you see it?
<Thorfinn> Doug Im going out there
<Thorfinn> you want to go?
<[Rip]> i'm going
<[Rip]> hotard is going out
<[Rip]> grabbing my pot now
<[Rip]> let me get my grodes on

I wanted to go out last night to the memorial, but couldn't bring myself to. I'm sorry. Tears are flowing as I type this, and I knew I wouldn't be able to even think about holding myself together. The only time I've ever been to the Bonfire Memorial, I sobbed uncontrollably for hours.

I was exhausted when I got in bed fairly early last night, but still managed to toss and turn half the night. The last time I looked at the clock, it was 2:46 am - the exact time my pager woke me up after stack collapsed. Then I cried myself to sleep.

I was asleep and my roommate came and woke me up saying that we had been getting called and needed to take flashligts and blankets out to the field because it had fallen. I remember thinking this was some sort of one last thing to make us do and then the realization of it being really bad when I drove up and asked someone where Miranda was and the look in their eyes scared me.

I could say so much more, but I will refrain.

Was on shift with the dorm that night. I had fallen asleep in my grodes studying for a math exam, woke up around 1:00am and walked out to Polo Fields to join the dorm that had gotten there at midnight. Since I was late there were no swings so I was mainly wiring sets on the ground. My girlfriend and our buddy had been on 2nd stack I believe when she got cold and so they went back to the dorm about 15 minutes before it fell. I was over by one of the tag lines when stack fell. As it started moving I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Then the reality and mayhem set in. It was a tough situation, especially when all of us non-trained folks were pulled back and unable to help, but the response personnel did what they had to do. Will never forget that night nor the friends we lost.

[This message has been edited by FHKPLEX03 (edited 11/19/2009 3:47p).]

My senior year and ring day. My roommate woke me up around 5 and told me. About 10am i made a very lonely walk to the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center to pick up my Aggie Ring, ring day is a sick feeling for me, I don't know how to describe it.