An effigy of a New Mexico State University Aggie met its fiery demise last night at the top of an eight-foot-high bonfire on Johnson Field; culminating what ASUNM hopes will be the first of many Red Rallies.
"Hopefully this will turn into a tradition," said Amanda Sims, vice president of the Associated Students of UNM.
The Red Rally was the end result of a frantic, eight-day effort involving several campus departments, ASUNM and the Albuquerque Fire Marshal.
It all began at the Sept. 17 ASUNM Senate meeting, when senators put through an appropriation to get the ball rolling.
"An ad-hoc committee was formed for this, so technically, there were six or seven senators involved," Sims said. "But the other committees have really taken a back seat for this week to make this successful."
Sen. Matt Burgess headed the ad-hoc committee. He said he wanted to use the rally to boost school spirit and to intensify the UNM-NMSU rivalry.
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"I wanted to get that aggression going again," he said. "I hope this makes people proud to be a Lobo."
Burgess said he met little resistance to the idea of the bonfire while working with Randy Boeglin, UNM dean of students, or with the Physical Plant department.
Gary Smith, associate director of Environmental Services within Physical Plant, said fuel for the fire came from dead juniper trees around Johnson Field.
One tree trunk was stuck into a four-foot-deep hole as the fire's center pole, Smith said. About 20 juniper branches were wired to the pole to form a tepee. The whole structure was about 8 feet in diameter.
"It's good and sturdy," Smith said Thursday. "You couldn't push it over with a truck I don't think."
To hoist the Aggie up to its doom, Smith said an eyebolt was inserted into the top of the center pole to act as the fulcrum of a pulley system.
Everyone's biggest concern for the event was safety, he said.
"We want it to burn quick and hot so we don't produce a lot of smoke or embers," Smith said.
Vincent Leonard, UNM fire marshal, said the Albuquerque Air Control Board issued a single event open burning permit for the rally.
Three University safety technicians and a fire truck were scheduled to supervise the site, Leonard said. The technicians planned to take some air-quality samples to determine if the fire would be environmentally viable in future years, he added.
The Albuquerque Fire Department was tasked with extinguishing the blaze, Leonard said.
While safety was on the top of everyone's list, Leonard said such an event should also be fun.
"We're not anti-fire here," he said. "But in the future, I would recommend a more open spot that's not in such close proximity to the dorms."
