College basketball fans are willing to brave many different elements to score tickets for a big game, but fire is probably not among them.

Iowa State students camping out in tents outside Hilton Coliseum to reserve their spot for Monday’s game against Kansas woke up Friday morning to smoke and flames.

From Des Moines’ WHOtv:

The students in line were woken around 3 a.m. Friday morning when a witness says two big tents, with tarps around them, caught fire.

“Basically, this morning, I woke up to the smell of smoke,” said Josiah O’Polka, a sophomore at Iowa State University. “I peeked my head out and there flames.”

Thankfully, no fans were harmed in the fire, which reportedly was started by a propane heater inside one of the tents.

The situation looks and sounds pretty harrowing. Here are more details from WHOtv:

“I did the first thing I could think of. I grabbed the propane tanks and moved them far away,” said O’Polka. “Within a matter of minutes the police and fire departments showed up. They got everything put out quickly.” Andy Cunningham was camped-out nearby and had been in that tent earlier in the night. “I was in there. There were so many blankets and tarps around that heater,” said Cunningham. “I thought I was going to pass-out because of the fumes and heat. It was only three minutes.” Both students say that the firefighters that came were calming and suggested that this could happen to anyone. They also say that firefighters urge the students not to bring the propane heaters near or inside the tents.

No. 19 Iowa State’s game against No. 3 Kansas is the biggest home date left on the Cyclones’ schedule. Iowa State upset No. 1 Oklahoma in Ames on Tuesday. It would seem appropriate to have some sort of prohibition against camping out for tickets in the freezing cold because while this fire seems like somewhat of a freak occurrence, a lot can go wrong when you’ve got hundreds of kids hanging around all night in frigid conditions.
[WHOtv]

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.