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The world’s biggest bonfire ever constructed (10 HQ Photos & Video)

January 10, 2013 | In: Awesome, High-Res, Mind Blowing, Travel

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: To see the world’s biggest bonfire you’ll have to visit Alesund, Norway, where wood pallets are stacked over 131 ft. high on an artificial island. The reason for this colossal bonfire is ‘Midsummer’, an annual festival in commemoration of John the Baptist’s birth — but I’m sure you already knew that. About 30-40 people partook in the build, and to light the structure someone has to climb to the top to ignite it. If the fire doesn’t burn from top to bottom things could end badly.

Via Twistedsifter

http://thechive.com ontherun1989

So the guy that lights it is a human sacrifice or what?

Wet_tosti

Leave it up to Nicolas Cage!
Silverstone

Traditionally, yes!

Bri Guy

I love that they are wearing hard hats for safety yet are passing pallets overhead 100 feet off the ground with zero fall protection

El_Hefe

Texas A&M could have learned a few things…

pudgymuffinman

Man, you're funny. It's not like anyone died or anything.

whos.mike

Someone call OSHA

Derek

Quick —- solve global warming….. /facedesk
Chive on

Meanwhile in the country I wish this happened in.
https://www.facebook.com/StevenSampaga Steven Sampaga

Looks safe…….
USAF_Ammo

#2 Did Yao Ming move to Norway? That dude is all legs.

Bob Fungus

Barrel distortion, that was shot with a wide angle lens

gbmsimoes2012

#7 Maybe it's just perspective but it sure looks like if that bunch of pallets on fire fell to THIS side all hell would break loose…

Rafael_RS

Nah, I don't think so
they are all protected by the Norse Gods

andrew

previous to this the biggest bonfire was the texas aggie bonfire. check it out. that deserves a post

JFF

Whoop!
Rock

The Texas A&M bonfires I went to before they stopped it were much bigger than this.

MIZ

No, no they weren't. Aggie bonfires were 50-60 ft tall. This was 131 feet. See the difference?

punintended

109' 10" for A&M

Realist

Yes, let's a make a post to piss poor engineering that killed 12 people.

Neens

They had plenty of bonfires that didn't hurt anyone, but by all means remember the negative and only the negative, don't appreciate the tradition. Ass.

truth,org

Lets face the truth for once, the Aggie bonfire was a school tradition that had been corrupted by many factors including a desire to make the stack taller that the previous year while ever increasingly skating around the concept of safety. Add in intermittent alcohol consumption by some members of the work crew and a tragedy was possible. Looking back, the student body pushed the limits of the tradition while the school as a whole kept "loose reins" at best on the entire event. Everyone was to blame.

Ol' rock

Your facts are false Truth,org… The university limited the size to 55 feet x 45 feet. How would I know? Because I built the damn thing and still do.

I'm sorry but I cant see the merit in this. It burns instantly and I can see through it. Its a glorified Texas tech camp fire.

Aggie bonfire still exists today as "student bonfire" Check it out if you want some real bonfire pics
http://dion-c.me/

BUILD THE HELL!

OCHWFLAKASSOBRTTEFE!

Bob25

Aggie bonfire was much better than whatever the hell the pallet fire was.

And wondering why they started the fire from the top…

Ryan

If the started from the bottom the whole thing would collapse in a matter of minutes, probably killing the idiots standing 100 ft from the fire.

Stockholm

Midsummer in Scandinavia has nothing to with John the Baptist – it's a pagan, pre-Christian, celebration.

jadedhero1331

Thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this.
Jaz

yeah so was christmas

Richard Phitzwell

I wonder how many bodies they were able to hide in there during the building process?
http://twitter.com/EirikGr @EirikGr

KCCO from Norway!
Silverstone

Just curious…..for the sake of stability, did anybody think to hose down the bottom 1/3 of the tower to try and prevent a premature collapse?
RichoVonBlack

Curse you Norway!, you win this round, but next year,,,,oh yes, next year,
2Dogs

pretty cool post. You might wanna do something about two of the same video ads blowing my ears off at the same time time playing on the page though…just sayin kcco
MonkeyMadness

#6 Maybe they're farther away than they look, but the people on that island look like sitting ducks if that thing fell the wrong way.
stuart

Cheryl tiegs nice (Family Guy)
Wet_tosti

#6 Would be epic when the audience begins to scream " Frodo! He dit it, he destroyed the ring!"
http://www.giornalettismo.com/archives/700181/il-falo-piu-grande-del-mondo/ Il falò più grande del mondo – Giornalettismo

[...] vedere il falò più grande del mondo dovete visitare Alesund nel Norway, dove vengono accatastate più di 131 [...]
http://www.politicfeed.it/il-falo-piu-grande-del-mondo/ Il falò più grande del mondo | PoliticFeed.it | Tutte le notizie sulla politica italiana

[...] vedere il falò più grande del mondo dovete visitare Alesund nel Norway, dove vengono accatastate più di 131 [...]
Sabre

Who was the retard in charge of lighting it? You had one job! Making the fire to distribute evenly is not a complicated affair. Such a waste.
RetiredChief

Right, because using a crane would have been way too easy. Then , lets stand right next too it as it burns and collapses
mshaw166

That must throw a ton of heat. Those people on the island are much braver than I!
Dan

All those times you took the bus or rode your bike to work have just been nullified.
JLeh29

Looks like a fun game of Jenga
https://www.youtube.com/user/19ExecuteTheSounds87 AnItalianChiver

#5 It would have been perfect in Manchester UK, with United fans singing a well known chant

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Funny Photos and Funny Videos – Keep Calm and Chive On

The world’s biggest bonfire ever constructed (10 HQ Photos & Video)

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