Burning Man Burns Early

[Kevy Baby]

Burning Man's icon goes up in flames, 4 days prematurely

BLACK ROCK DESERT, NEV. - A San Francisco man was arrested on felony arson charges today after the 40-foot-tall "Man" statue whose torching is the annual highlight of the Burning Man festival in Nevada went up in flames four days early, authorities said.

The whole story

[Alex]

It was eventually going to happen and I'm amazed it took so many years. They put a lot of effort into avoiding that a decade ago and I know access to the man has become much more limited since I was going.

Rebuilding will end up being a great community effort, I'm sure.

[CoasterMatt]

That's just sad...

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Wow, premature and burning in one sentance - I'm sensing STD.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

is it really arson?

[Alex]

Yes.

For one thing, by starting the fire without notice he put other people at risk. The man is built on a platform into which people can go (or at least it was the last time I was there). If the fire spread quickly and people inside weren't paying attention (needless to say people at BM are frequently in less than perfectly self aware conditions) it wouldn't be difficult to trap someone inside.

Despite the generally laissez faire mood there are pretty strict rules on when and where fires are allowed. One reason is that uncontrolled and ill-prepared fires can do damage to the playa which will get the organizers in trouble with the Bureau of Land Management (and also because in the early years people had the bad habit of accidentally setting camps on fire).

[DreadPirateRoberts]

Originally Posted by Alex

Yes.

For one thing, by starting the fire without notice he put other people at risk. The man is built on a platform into which people can go (or at least it was the last time I was there). If the fire spread quickly and people inside weren't paying attention (needless to say people at BM are frequently in less than perfectly self aware conditions) it wouldn't be difficult to trap someone inside.

Despite the generally laissez faire mood there are pretty strict rules on when and where fires are allowed. One reason is that uncontrolled and ill-prepared fires can do damage to the playa which will get the organizers in trouble with the Bureau of Land Management (and also because in the early years people had the bad habit of accidentally setting camps on fire).

You bring up a good point. I hadn't thought of other people being hurt.

[Tref]

Originally Posted by Alex

Rebuilding will end up being a great community effort, I'm sure.

My God, I bet it will be beautiful. It'll be like the ending of the Clark Gable film, San Francisco. I can't wait not to go.

[Capt Jack]

sounds like some 3 year old wanting to blow out the candles on someone elses birthday cake

"oooh, let me! I wanna do it! let meeee doooooo it!!"

and from this pic? yeah, Im guessing Im pretty close

[Tref]

Originally Posted by Capt Jack

sounds like some 3 year old wanting to blow out the candles on someone elses birthday cake

If by that you mean a corporate run birthday party that costs $250 to get in and charges $10 for a bottle of water, then, yeh, just like that.