COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Monday marked the 25th anniversary of the bonfire collapse at Texas A&M in 1999. Hundreds of people gathered early in the morning for a remembrance ceremony at the Bonfire Memorial, in tribute to the 12 lives lost and the 27 injured.

Among the crowd were former students who said the day still felt surreal. Traci Seely, class of 2000, said the 1999 bonfire was her ring day.

“The way the campus changed that day… You’ll never forget it,” Seely said. “The phone calls in the middle of the night, to make sure your parents knew you were okay, to make sure your friends knew you were okay, to worry about friends whose names you didn’t know existence. »

Christy Moran, class of 1996, said she still remembers the call she received at work.

“(I) heard the news that morning and I just couldn’t believe it,” Moran recalled. “You know, I grew up going to a bonfire and hearing what happened… So many people involved. It’s such a tradition, and the fact that we weren’t able to have a bonfire that year and it fell and lives were taken, it was devastating.

These emotions are still strong today.

“Coming here that night and doing a very similar ceremony in shock, and then all the days after the game and everything and all these years just remembering, and still hard to believe it happened,” Moran explained.

Bonfire 1999 is a day Seely and Moran said they will never forget, and both current students hope they never forget Monday’s ceremony and the spirit of Aggieland.

“I just hope that they can continue to honor – and I know they will – the traditions, and not forget the past. Don’t forget these 12 people and all the people who shaped A&M into what it is today,” Moran added.

Copyright 2024 KBTX. All rights reserved.