The off-campus bonfire organized by Texas A&M students is back on again after county commissioners lifted a burn ban, according to a student Web site for the event.
Last week, Robertson County commissioners voted to impose the burn ban because of dry conditions and strong winds. After up to 3 inches of rain fell in some places over the weekend, the commissioners lifted the ban in most precincts, including the one where the bonfire is held, and the traditional event was rescheduled for Tuesday night.
"We are definitely happy," Nick Kaechler, a student leading the group in charge of the project, said in a story for Tuesday editions of the Bryan-College Station Eagle.
The bonfire has been banned from campus since 12 Aggies were killed when a 59-foot-high wedding cake-like stack of more than 5,000 logs collapsed as students were building it on Nov. 18, 1999.
Since then, students have continued the tradition off-campus. They've been constructing the bonfire this year at a ranch near Hearne.
From 1909 until the year before the accident, the bonfire was constructed and burned on the eve of A&M's annual football game against its archrival, the University of Texas. The bonfire is funded by admission fees and by support from A&M alumni.
The bonfire has been banned from campus since 12 Aggies were killed when a 59-foot-high wedding cake-like stack of more than 5,000 logs collapsed as students were building it Nov. 18, 1999.
