Two years ago we were at the State Fair of Texas – one of the highlights was BIG TEX the extremely large and very friendly mascot of the event. This year – he was smoking! Literally.
Flames swiftly engulfed Big Tex Friday morning, leaving only a skeletal frame with his hands, arms and belt buckle still intact.
The State Fair of Texas was celebrating Big Tex’s 60th birthday. Emergency scanner chatter lit up around 10:30 a.m. with reports of a “rather tall cowboy with all his clothes burned off.” Another voice chimed in soon after, confirming, “We got Big Tex on fire.”
“Howdy folks,” another emergency responder said. “It’s hot.”
Mitchell Glieber, vice president of marketing for the State Fair, said it appears the fire was started by an electrical short circuit.
I’m sure there is a lesson here or maybe a warning but I am too shocked to see it. I mean you would think non-flammable clothes would be the way to go but I guess any true Texan would tell you that asbestos Dickies are uncomfortable.
Thanks to Travis in our Dallas Office for sending this in.
