Oakland residents celebrate Stanley Cup victory

Three months after City Council banned couches on porches, Oakland’s residents started chair… Three months after City Council banned couches on porches, Oakland’s residents started chair fires to celebrate the Penguins’ victory in the Stanley Cup finals Friday night.

Well, at least two of them did.

“I think it’s fantastic people are burning things,” Pitt alumnus Jon Hetts said as he watched one of at least two Oakland chair burnings in the middle of Semple Street tonight. “I’m so happy I get to watch this. I’ve never done it before,” he added, referring to watching furniture burn.

A summer vacation-depleted Oakland still managed to throw a party after the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight, but the post-Stanley Cup Finals celebrations seemed to be calmer than the ones that occurred in February after the Steelers won the Super Bowl. Students lined the corner of South Bouquet Street and Forbes Avenue tonight, but allowed, for the most part, police officers to direct traffic. They screamed as the cars passing between rows of them honked to signal their support for the Penguins.

“It’s shock-and-awe,” said Andrew Gipe, a University of Maryland student who was in town visiting. “It’s giving me an adrenaline rush.”

In February, the streets were so packed firefighters and police had to work for several minutes to gain access to couch fires on Forbes Avenue.

They still responded to at least two furniture fires Friday night, both of which appeared to have been chair fires instead of couch fires.

Oakland residents, including Hetts, screamed in support as three firefighters doused the chair fire on Semple Street. The firefighters laughed as the onlookers screamed, “Pittsburgh prevails,” among other things that are unsuitable for print.

So, why do students enjoy watching furniture burn if they’re just going to cheer when the firefighters put it out?

“It’s like, ‘why do you enjoy drinking if you’re gonna be hung over in the morning?’ It’s a celebration,” Hetts said.

The same firefighters who responded to the couch fire on Semple Street also responded to one on the corner of Sennott Street and Meyran Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. After they left, some students sat in the wet, plaid chair and took pictures until two Pitt police officers arrived, asked them to leave and turned the chair on its side.

Pitt students have earned a reputation for celebrating in the streets following major events. They burned couches following Pitt’s victory over West Virginia University in the Backyard Brawl two football seasons ago. Following Barack Obama’s win in the presidential election last November, they ran to the Cathedral of Learning with chants of “O-BAM-A.”

This February’s post-Super Bowl riots were of a different caliber. Students lit Dumpsters on fire, uprooted trees, broke windows to local businesses, climbed light poles and tore down two bus shelters, causing more than $40,000 in damage.

Continue to check pittnews.com throughout the week for updates.