The first ominous sounds came from deep within the massive log pile in the darkest hours of the Texas night. Witnesses described hearing the stack of thousands of logs groan and creak before the center post cracked as it snapped, then collapsed.

Over a million pounds (450,000 kilograms) of wood collapsed. In an instant, 12 people were killed, dozens more were injured, and a college campus rooted in traditions carried over generations of students was permanently scarred.

Texas A&M University is set to mark 25 years since the log stack collapsed in the early hours of Nov. 18, 1999. It was built in preparation for the annual bonfire before the Texas A&M-Texas rivalry football game in College Station.

The school will hold a Campfire commemoration ceremony at the scene of the tragedy on Monday at 2:42 a.m., around the time the stack collapsed.

“Year after year, Texas A&M students have worked to ensure that we never forget those members of the Aggie family who were taken from us 25 years ago,” said school president Mark Welsh III.

tradition

The “Fightin’ Texas Aggie Bonfire” ranked among the most revered traditions in college football and symbolized the school’s “burning desire” to defeat the University of Texas Longhorns in football. The the first campfire in 1907 it was a pile of debris that was set on fire. By 1909, it was a campus event, and the fire pile continued to grow as the railroad lines were used to transport carloads of scrap lumber, railroad ties and other flammable materials, according to the school.

It reached a record height of 105 feet (32 meters) in 1969, before administrators, concerned about the fire hazard, imposed a 55-foot (17 meters) limit. Over the years, the stack evolved from a teepee-style mound to a vertical wooden formation, a shape similar to a tiered wedding cake, which collapsed in 1999.

The annual bonfire drew crowds of up to 70,000 and burned every year until 1998. The only exception was in 1963, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The tragedy

The 18-foot (5.5-meter) stack of more than 5,000 logs collapsed a week before it was scheduled to burn. The 12 who they were killed it included five freshmen, four sophomores, one junior, one senior and one recent graduate. Several were members of the Corps of Cadets, the military-style student-run organization at Texas A&M that played an important role in its construction.

Rescuers, including members of the Texas A&M football team, scrambled to remove logs that had caught and crushed some of the victims. At rival Texas, Longhorns players held a blood drive to help survivors.

An investigation ordered by the school determined that faulty construction led by unskilled student workers led to the collapse.

The campus memorial

In 2003, the school dedicated a memorial at the site where the stack fell. Includes a “Spirit Ring” with 12 portals representing those who have been killed. Each portal contains an engraved portrait and signature of a victim and points to the hometown. Stepping into the open archway, the visitor symbolically fills the void left by the deceased.

Efforts to rekindle the campfire tradition

The annual Aggie bonfire was discontinued as an official school event after the fatal crash.

The school considered reviving the tradition this year to coincide with the Texas-Texas A&M renewal football rivalry on November 30. The rivalry broke up in 2012 when Texas A&M left the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference, but resumed this year when Texas joined the SEC.

A special committee recommended reopening the fire, but only if the log stack was designed and built by professional engineers and contractors. Some members of the public said that it should not return unless it was organized and built by students, according to tradition.

Finally, Welsh decided to fire would not return to campus.

“The campfire, a wonderful and tragic part of Aggie history, should remain in our cherished past,” the president said in June when he announced his decision.

Students continued to organize and build unofficial off-campus shootings over the years and plans to burn this year’s edition on Nov. 29, the night before the Texas A&M-Texas football game.