Greetings. I'm Bob Stahl, and I help design and build stuff for Burning Man. Many of us have been concerned about fires built directly on the Black Rock Desert playa surface creating burn scars -- patches of discolored, hardened playa sediment which can take years to fully recover. Restoring them takes hours of picking out residue by hand, stripping off the fired layer, and filling back in with sediment. Returning to burn scars from previous years to clean up debris and discoloration that seeps to the surface is a continuing hassle. But preventing them could be so easy!

After doing a number of trials (see: Burn Scar Tests) the Black Rock City DPW is preparing to build about two dozen Community Burn Platforms along the Esplanade at Burning Man 2000, for use by participants for burning camp debris and art projects (wood, paper and cotton material only).

This is a great opportunity for metal-working artists, novice and experienced, to contribute design elements, build the burn platforms, improve our cleanup performance, and help us all leave no trace. They cry out for ornate corner posts with dragon heads, gargoyles, body parts, or geometric shapes. The general shape could be made to look like dragon boats or other configurations. The burn platforms will be unique, highly visible showpieces of our creative work and environmental efforts, and will be an absolute gas to work on. We need to design for a number of factors:

• looks like it belongs at Burning Man (see DPW burn barrel, right)
• must not look like a dumpster, or debris will accumulate
• inexpensive salvaged materials
• sized for transportability
• sized for typical participants' camp debris and burnable art projects
• simple construction that can be done by volunteers
• durable, reusable
• quick setup and removal
• easy for participants to use
• strong enough to support heavy objects
• safe w/regard to pedestrians, vehicles, and firewalkers
• prevent playa discoloration from ash and smoke (black stains)
• prevent playa heat alteration (hardening and reddening)
• wind resistant
• shaped so ash will not blow, and can be removed easily
• no significant environmental drawbacks

Cleanup -- one hour. Slight darkening and (probably reversible) hardening of the underlying soil. Discreet spots stained dark, where smoke escaped through seams. This can be fixed by using a double layer rather than a single layer for the platform.

photos by Bill, Elena, Dan

Materials in our stock include about three tons of corrugated steel sheeting, in 8 and 10 foot lengths. A platform made on Memorial Day (see above) consisted of a single layer of steel, lapped and attached with self-tapping screws, and placed on spacers made from corrugated steel sheeting folded to form a rectangular beam. Steel sheeting was also slipped under the platform beams, directly on the ground.

What we have done so far indicates that the best solution involving corrugated steel requires some sort of spacers or horses to provide a space for air flow underneath. We'll have a stock of materials for accessory decoration, such as corner posts. Cinder blocks, bricks, rocks, and steel pipe are all possibilities for spacers. Steel pipe could be stacked crosswise, or welded into steel horses. We are looking at doubling-up the corrugated steel, in two layers placed cross-wise, for extra strength. Corner posts and curved sides would make the platforms more visible. Building materials will mostly be salvaged from Nevada area junkyards. All construction will be at our storage depot near Gerlach, Nevada.

If you want to volunteer with Burning Man, get on the volunteer list so you're in our contact database. To work with DPW, fill out the volunteer form, and also contact Will Roger or Flynn Mauthe, give them your contact information, let them know what skills you have, and when you plan to be available in the desert Phone numbers: Gerlach (775) 557-2200; San Francisco (415) 550-3080x110. Intensive construction will not begin at the Burning Man storage depot in Gerlach until late July. We're happy to have your help on weekends or before the event, but a significant time commitment is required to get ticket reimbursement, room and board, DPW tee-shirt, logo for your cowboy hat or doo-rag, and other perqs. As with other DPW structures, a commitment to build the burn platforms also requires a commitment to dismantle them after the event. Either myself or the Metal Shop Foremen will direct the burn platform construction.

The kind of help we need before July is in the continuing effort to clean up burn scars from previous years, and sorting materials at the storage depot. Keep in touch with Dan Miller with regard to the ongoing cleanup, and check the Burning Man website for announcements.

Artists and participants planning large public burns: feel free to use whatever information you find on this page. Please follow the guidelines of the Art Installations crew for special requirements and how to schedule your burn. Large burns can be done at the community burn spots, at the site of the Man (after the main burn), or on an appropriate specially-made fire mat.

Burning Man is working on locating an outlet for fire blanket material that will give participants a good deal. The material is heat-treated tempered silica, hemmed using a Kevlar thread. REI and other camping stores have small fire blankets, up to 3 x 3 feet, for low-impact wilderness camping. We plan on using this material under the Man. More news to come soon.

Cheers,
Bob Stahl

06-15-2000

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