The bonfire tragedy left an indelible mark on the lives of so many including the heroes who worked tirelessly and valiantly to try to save those young students. Among them were some fine volunteers from the forest products industry who willingly dropped everything to respond to the call for help. 

Originally, I intended to focus this story on those men but in the course of my interviews, it seemed more appropriate to pay tribute to all of the professionals, volunteers and even students who gave their best that night. And I feel certain James Gibson, Damon Burris, both of Steely Lumber Co. and logger Tommy Webb particularly, would prefer it that way because they weren't there for the glory. They were there, just as the others were, because of the spirit of love and compassion they shared for their fellow man. This then, is the rescuers' story.

At 3:10 a.m. on November 18, just 45 minutes after the accident, Texas Forestry Assn. Executive Vice President Ron Hufford was awakened by a call from his son Ryan, a student at Texas A&M and one of several hundred involved in the bonfire construction. Ryan wasn't working on the bonfire that night, but some very wise and caring school officials told the students to call home before their parents could hear about it on the news. Thus, Hufford and hundreds of other parents learned first that their child was okay and then, that there had been a terrible accident. It wasn't until the early morning newscast came on that they all learned the magnitude of the tragedy.

The first emergency response teams to arrive within minutes were the Bryan and College Station fire departments. Shortly afterwards, they called Dr. Kim Bennett with the Texas Task Force One for assistance and specialized rescue equipment. The task force is a locally-based, state agency organized through the Texas Engineering Extension Service of Texas A&M. There are three 62-member teams in the state, which include firefighters, doctors, nurses as well as dog teams. All are extensively trained and equipped for large-scale search and rescue missions. As part of the state's emergency response system, the task force has responded to many disasters throughout the state. 

"I never thought when we formed this team four years ago, that we would be doing this in our own back yard," states Bennett. "The good news was Bryan Fire Department had their own heavy rescue team and we had trained them all. In fact, some of their members are on our state team. So although we had never encountered a pile of logs like that, everybody knew what to do and what equipment we had to rescue these young people. I truly believe if we hadn't had the team, the equipment and the training, there are two young men who wouldn't be with us today."

The seemingly impossible mission for the fire departments and Task Force One was to locate and rescue students pinned under the log stack without causing any movement of the other logs. Structural engineers were called in to help determine how to dismantle the pile without causing the stack to shift. Heavy jacks and shoring equipment were used to stabilize it.

Four cranes circled the pile, two were already there for the bonfire construction and two others were brought from a campus construction project. However, only one could operate at a time to ensure the safety of the rescuers searching among the logs and to prevent log shifts that could cause further injuries. The crane picked up one log at a time, held it for workers on the stack to cut the baling wire that fastened each log, then pivoted around to place the log on the ground next to the rubble. There, six-man teams of students would hoist each log on their shoulders to stack it in a pile away from the scene. That helped to speed the process because the slow moving crane didn't have to swing around as far. "The students that worked on the bonfire were out there and they were hurting, so we wanted to get them involved," Bennett says. "And they were very well organized." 

At some point during those early morning hours, Dr. Roland Hayden, Dean of the Engineering School suggested contacting the Texas Forest Service (TFS) to get a log loader in to help. Up to that point, Bennett was not aware that such log handling equipment even existed. 

TFS Assistant Director Tom Boggus received the call about 8:30 a.m. and immediately called the Texas Logging Council to locate the nearest loader that could be dispatched to the scene. At 8:55 a.m. Rose Michaelson, office manager at Steely Lumber Co. in Huntsville answered the phone and was told of the emergency. 

With her boss, Kelvin Steely away from the office, she and senior forester James Thompson started calling logging crews that had the right kind of equipment. After two or three attempts and either getting no answer or finding that the equipment was out of service, the two Steely employees took matters into their own hands. "That's what makes me the proudest," says the company's owner. "They knew what I would do and they didn't have to think twice about it!" 

They decided that if the boss were there he would send his yard loader, a track-mounted Prentice 410. They began making preparations to transport the loader. First they hired a lowboy, then contacted the sheriff, Department of Public Safety and University Police to arrange an escort for the oversized load. They were unable to get an official escort, so they purchased an oversize permit using Rose's personal credit card since they didn't have a company card.

Meanwhile, Thompson made contact with co-worker Damon Burris, who was on his way to the woods. Burris contacted logger Tommy Webb who was working near Conroe. Within 10 minutes, the two men were on their way to College Station with Webb's truck-mounted Barko 160. 

Webb and Burris arrived just before noon. Steely's equipment and operator James Gibson got there about 1 p.m. Grover Hollis, a contractor for Walker Brothers Lumber Co., Huntsville, had also responded to the call for help. He was en route when he got the word that they had enough, so he turned around. 

Once there, the loggers ran into resistance from some of the supervising engineers on the scene, who were concerned the loggers couldn't perform the delicate, painstaking maneuvers without shifting the stack. 

The task force used sophisticated and highly sensitive sound systems to help locate people trapped in the stack. By the time the loggers arrived on the scene, it had been determined that there probably were no more survivors, though they could not be 100% sure. Still, it was very important to the rescuers that they treat the victims with the same care and dignity they would if it were one of their own children, Bennett emphasized. They had located several bodies and wanted to clear the back section by hand before allowing any machines in there.

Once that task had been completed and the structural engineers had verified that the back section of the stack was independent, supervisors were ready to test the log loaders. 

"There may have been anxiety on all of our parts as to whether this was going to work or not," Bennett adds. "But once we saw him operating that loader, the way he pulled that back section down and the hand communications between those guys, we just cut it loose at that point." The cranes backed away and the logger team began dismantling the rest of the stack. 

Using a platform ladder truck, a structural engineer was raised above the stack so that he could see inside the structure to direct Burris, who was on the ground, to the next log to get. Using hand signals, Burris relayed his directions to Gibson in the loader cab. Gibson gently picked up the log or logs and when necessary, held it for the wires to be cut, then quickly and efficiently set it on the ground. Webb on the second loader, handed the logs off to a forklift that moved them to a safe distance away. Students continued to carry the logs to the pile. Gibson and Webb worked non-stop for the next 13 or 14 hours and finally dismounted almost 24 hours after the ordeal began. 

Although no other survivors were rescued, the loggers' work shortened the tedious work to hours instead of days and more than likely prevented accidents that often result as the fatigue factor begins to take its toll. 

"The gentleman running that loader did a marvelous job," says Bennett. "He really operated that like it was an extension of his arm. I don't think you could have used your hand any better than he used that piece of equipment."