Chapel Hill Fire officials are asking residents to avoid bonfires should a celebration on Franklin Street be in store following a potential Carolina victory on Saturday night.

Rushing Franklin Street and shutting off downtown Chapel Hill with revelers is a tradition following significant UNC victories, but emergency officials are warning that bonfires have the potential to turn tragic quickly.

UNC alumnus Blake Tedder said in a video distributed through the Chapel Hill Fire Department’s social media channels that not only are the bonfires dangerous, they are unnecessary.

“I had a full Carolina experience as a Tar Heel,” Tedder said. “I am so proud to be a Tar Heel. I didn’t have to take part in the bonfire to feel that and to feel my connection to 2005 and 2009 [national championships].

“I still get the fuzzies when I see Sean May on the sideline.”

Tedder is a burn survivor following a plane crash in Colorado. He spent several months in the UNC Burn Center for treatment.

If the third-ranked Tar Heels beat the fourth-ranked Blue Devils on Saturday night, you can be sure that a celebration will shut down Frnaklin Street for some time. But fire officials are asking that bonfires not be part of that enjoyment.

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