Fighting fires: WSU official speaks on couch burning

PULLMAN – Washington State University is encouraging students and residents of Pullman to celebrate college football in alternative ways that don’t require sacrificing furniture for the Cougs.

It was a busy season for the town’s first responders. More than a handful of couches, mattresses and dumpsters were ignited following WSU football home games.

Pullman police logs show at least eight such instances on College Hill this fall semester, which includes two in November, four during the annual Apple Cup football game in September and another set in late September.

Associate dean of students Karen Metzner said she believes there are plenty of other ways to show school spirit that don’t involve lighting things on fire.

“It’s difficult to say why exactly this is happening,” she said. “I think that there’s a lot of energy and emotion associated with both wins and losses. … Because folks are so escalated, I think that groupthink mentality can sometimes encourage the idea of destructive celebration.”

The trend has dated back to at least 2016. University records and past Moscow-Pullman Daily News reporting show numerous reports of various furniture items set ablaze in Pullman after Cougar football victories and losses.

There has been an increase in small blazes this year compared to past ones. Metzner speculates the rise could partly be due to a strong start in the season and heightened excitement for the team with conference changes.

“We saw, especially in early fall, there was a lot of Cougs-versus-everybody energy around our football team,” she said. “With PAC-12 changes and having multiple back-to-back winning games, I think some of those things brought the activity back into the limelight.”

Metzner said the tradition is not unique to WSU. There have been disruptive post-game celebrations, including couch burning and rioting, seen around the country. She said to some extent it happens internationally at major sporting events too.

Past reporting shows no one was hurt during the small fires, and the situations never escalated.

Metzner said the trend is a dangerous one, and could lead to unfortunate outcomes.