Burning Man Burns Early

[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.