FEMA to Release Report on Texas A&M Bonfire Disaster

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced it will release a technical review of the emergency response to the 1999 Texas A&M University bonfire collapse, which killed 12 university students and graduates.

Texas A&M University is located in College Station, Texas, and has an enrollment of more than 40,000 students. As part of the school's 90-year-old tradition of constructing a massive bonfire prior to the annual football game against arch-rival Texas University, 58 people were working to construct the fourth tier of the bonfire stack on the campus in the early morning hours of Nov. 18, 1999. Without warning, the 40-foot high stack of over 5,000 logs twisted and collapsed, burying those working on the stack, plus many victims on the ground. In addition to the 12 deaths, another 27 people were injured.

In its report on response to the accident, FEMA found that emergency responders dealing with such challenging emergencies should "think big" in terms of ordering additional resources immediately to meet possible management needs.

"This report offers valuable insights into the management of large-scale emergencies," said Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response in a FEMA press release. "It also shows the importance of pre-incident planning. In this case, there had been a tabletop exercise with city and university responders just one week prior to the event and the university's emergency management service personnel had conducted a drill just two weeks before."

The review, compiled by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), also pointed out the importance of a strong incident command system, which was not in place at this event, complicating the management of more than 3,000 responders from 50 different agencies.

Other lessons learned cited in the report include:

The advantages of having electric power and hardwired telephone lines brought to the scene's command post to help with communications as the magnitude of the emergency quickly exceeded the capabilities of the emergency responder communications systems, and the telecommunications system of the community and two local hospitals;

The need to consider redirecting non-critical patients to other medical facilities in an event involving multiple casualties, since the capabilities of local hospitals can be easily overwhelmed;

The need to provide additional staffing to hospitals, which may need help in a multi-casualty incident to assist with unloading patients and dealing with families and friends of the injured; and

The need to control rumors. So much misinformation was broadcast following the collapse that two local hospitals turned off their television sets to reduce anxiety.

"While a unified command system was not in place at this incident, our report shows that many of the fire departments responding did use a standardized incident management system," said US Fire Administrator R. David Paulison. "Based on that finding alone, the report serves to uncover significant 'lessons learned' from this tragic incident."

Texas A&M University is the site of a training school for firefighters and the headquarters of Texas Task Force One, a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team.

The bonfire rescue effort began immediately as emergency personnel were on the site at the time of the collapse and lasted almost 24 hours. Listening devices and search cameras were used to locate trapped victims.

An internal investigation conducted by Texas A&M officials concluded administrative oversight, tunnel vision and poor construction practices contributed to the collapse.