Bonfires prove to be dangerous during celebrations

When Brennan Cumalander returned to his fraternity house after watching the North Carolina basketball team beat Michigan State last month, he found a couch on fire in the middle of Little Fraternity Court.

Cumalander, president of the Sigma Nu fraternity, said it wasn’t his fellow fraternity members that lit the couch on fire — all three of the fraternity’s couches were still inside.

But by the time the brothers of Sigma Nu gathered outside, there were more than 200 students standing around the large fire.

Chapel Hill police and fire eventually broke up the bonfire, but Cumalander said no student groups or Sigma Nu members were cited or fined.

“Sigma Nu was not involved, none of our brothers were complicit or involved,” Cumalander said. “Sigma Nu doesn’t support the burning of couches or bonfires.”

The students probably didn’t know it, but lighting that couch on fire was illegal.

“I’m sure if we had better recognition of the ordinance, we would have been telling people to leave,” Cumalander said. “If there was more transparency around the ordinance, we would have made steps to stop it from happening.”

It is illegal to hold a campfire for special events without a permit from the town fire marshall, according to town ordinances.

No one was hurt after last month’s bonfire, but after the 2005 men’s basketball national championship victory, 11 burn victims were seen in the UNC Hospitals emergency room. After the 2009 championship win, eight students were treated at the burn center.

Dr. Bruce Cairns, the director of the Jaycee Burn Center, said after those incidents, the town came together with the University and the Burn Center to quash the tradition.

“When we did a fair number of forums and stories on this, this was about four years ago, so I suspect most people weren’t here,” Cairns said.

Cairns said bonfires are often glorified in college.

“People don’t just send a picture of people sitting around in a house celebrating a victory,” Cairns said. “There’s something about a bonfire that really seems to catch people’s attention.”

“The problem is that when I see that, I see injury. More than injury, what I see is potentially catastrophic tragedy.”

Lisa Edwards, the spokeswoman for the Chapel Hill Fire Department, said there’s been no coordination between UNC and the town to monitor or address that issue.

“There are inherent risks,” Cumalander said. “It is what it is, I’m just thankful no one was hurt.”

Cairns said he’s committed to continuing to educate students about the dangers celebratory bonfires can pose — especially when alcohol is added in the mix.

“We have the best students in the nation, some of the smartest and brightest young people,” he said. “So this just defies explanation for me, how such a capable group of people cannot see how dangerous this is.”

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