Survivor of Texas A&M Aggie Bonfire collapse speaks 25 years later

25 years after he was hospitalized from the tragic Aggie Bonfire collapse that killed 12 people, John Comstock spoke to WFAA.

[pb]

Respect from a T-Sip. May the rest of your life be fruitful and loving.

[earnestpeeplesjr]

Mack Brown and the Longhorns were the 1st organization that came to help. Mack was so hurt over the loss of those families' children. He talks about it in an interview

[LeeAdams-kjtr]

As a 1980 Civil Engineering graduate. I remember our professors were complaining about the changes to the Bonfire in the late 70’s. But the administration did not listen. Then I was living in College Station about 4 blocks away about 2 years earlier and I was concerned because it fell over after about 12 inches of rain over just a couple days. My neighbor was a Marine Major that was assigned to teach the Cadets and I asked him to walk over there in the rain to see the collapsed bonfire. They rebuilt it a couple days later but the cake design that my professor complained about it years earlier concerned me. I did some thinking and realized that my civil engineering professors were right. Not only they were wiring large timber together with wire the center pole was about 12 feet deep and should have been about 60 feet deep. I work on it in 1976 and the Cadets were totally in charge and no one was allowed to get near it that had any alcohol. I loved my time there but I sent letters to about every State Legislator to keep it like it used to be. But I am glad that those people in the administration were at least pushed out. They are the ones that have blood on their conscience for being not listening to what my professors and I knew almost 25 years before. There is more to this story but my heart will always be broken for this avoidable tragedy, those young Aggies and their loved ones.

[hufftex]

Amazing grit and perseverance from that good man. Adapted and overcame, and kept going.

[stacysaenz]

an unfortunate and inevitable outcome. every year the stack got bigger, but they never increased the time to build. one year, they secure the logs x times. the next? one less. the year after? one more less


then you end up with a very tall, poorly secured, and rushed stack

[miketemple]

I remember this. I’m a Longhorn fan and this cast a shadow over the game.

[shttysprinkles]

I commented on this in a reply, but YT is behaving buggy, so a response here:

Look, I’m just speaking to what I observed; college kids building a massively tall structure of full sized logs piled upon each other, and it collapsed. On a lighter note, I was a wee 18 year old collegiate night manager at the McDonalds on U-Drive at the time. The chain ran an all you can eat pancakes special overnights. Aggies would plaster syrupy pancakes everywhere along the plexiglass sunroom walls; a crowd mixed with bonfire ppl and drunks; very entertaining, actually.

My favorite laugh in life has maybe been from the overnight manager, Syed, then, who instructed his team to make the pancakes dry and lumpy af, to specifically constipate the pancake throwers. The overnight maintenance bro was furious about the whole thing; months of using a power washer to remove stuck, cemented flapjacks from the entire building.

Not a drop of water in y’all’s pancakes, I’m afraid 😅

[UncleFjester]

What is the last thing a Texan says, on his way to the hospital? "Hey Y'all! Watch this!"
What does a Utahn say on his way to the hospital? "Oh, Why Not!"

[shttysprinkles]

I lived in College Station at the time, worked directly across the street. The idea of an unstable structure like this, so insanely large and tall, was annoyingly stupid at the time; I’d seen it every year for years. I feel badly for anyone who suffered, but it was a shockingly precarious structure; that a university would allow it was; I’m without words.

[decline]

God I couldn’t imagine some condescending person giggling about my tragedy as they ask if I achieved my regular old life. Sickening to watch this interviewer.

[Donkeypuncher]

We can make jokes about 9/11, aids, covid, etc. But make one joke about the bonfire around an aggie and they act like the world is ending.

[marianmurphy]

Who thought a stack of wood like that when set on fire wouldn't collapse? Watching and listening from Ireland, the only word I can think of, is stupid

[jenniferhill]

The hubris of cult the of Aggie caused this inevitable tragedy. Watched it unfold in real time. Surprised it took as long as it did. Just another example add to why UH is the better engineering school- they would never have been so dumb to have held such an inane tradition.