Morgantown, West Virginia's city council passed a law Tuesday to ban upholstered furniture outdoors, WV Public Broadcasting reports. Why? Because West Virginia University students won't stop burning couches outside.
The new law prohibits people from keeping couches in their yards or unenclosed porches. According to WV Public, violators will receive a written warning, and then fines of up to $500.
"Over the last 10 years, we’ve had over 3,000 street fires because of the quick ability to bring furniture from porches and put it into the streets and put them on fire," said Morgantown City Manager Jeff Mikorski.
In the past, Morgantown officials suggested imposing a $20 "fire fee" on WVU students because of the cost of putting out the couch fires. The student government even created PSAs trying to get students to stop setting sofas ablaze.
When students celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011, 29 fires were intentionally set outside. After one 2013 game, students lit 10 fires and flipped a car. They did it again in 2014 after big football wins, causing an estimated $45,000 in damage.
If anyone wants to see more videos of the mayhem, Total Frat Move has a few examples and Uproxx compiled a few others.
The story has been updated to clarify the purpose of the student government's PSAs.
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