University District bonfires reignite as police disperse crowds

SEATTLE — Students near the University of Washington celebrated the Seahawks win Sunday night by starting multiple bonfires in the street.

Some of the locations included 47th Street and 17th Avenue, and 47th Street and University Way.

Seattle police attempted to control and disperse the crowds, which one officer on scene estimated to include 3,000 students.

However, when police managed to get students away from the fires, many of those students came back with more furniture to burn.

KIRO 7 saw at least one student being taken into custody.

See photos of the fires here.

“I heard it from my house. I heard people yelling and walked outside,” said Erika McAuliffe. She saw flames and students throwing couches being thrown in the pile.

Another student, Lily Tyger said, “I ran past the cops, and everything was on fire…just people taking pictures with the riot police.”

One of those people was a student who was identified only as Chris.

Chris said, “We burned couches. Then they came and they left. We burned more couches. They came and then left.”

This cycle continued until well past 9 p.m. when police finally cleared the fire at 47th Street and 17th Avenue.

When asked why they were burning couches, Chris said, “It’s good for the environment, probably.”

He also said that many students used the phrase “YOLO”: you only live once.

Seattle police on the scene told KIRO 7 they had called the Seattle Department of Transportation to clean up the debris.

KIRO