Given that firearms are prohibited and motor vehicle traffic is limited to 5mph, that alone would take out two unnatural causes of death. Also, drowning is a lot less likely to occur in the desert.

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bherms 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This year of the 3 deaths, 1 was just a heart attack in someone around 60 yrs old (a ranger who was working, so not drug related most likely). The other fell from an installation. Some of these are literally just scaffolding with a couch on top or something - I climbed one and was terrified and even said "wow, I will be surprised if someone doesn't fall off this intoxicated at night".

Some people see that as a feature though - they want the danger and lack of regulation and safety. It's part of why they attend I guess.

note: it was my first time - i'm not a "burner", just wanted to finally see what all the hype was about

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rottencupcakes an hour ago | parent | next [-]

It's good to give any sort of thing you're going to climb at the burn a bit of a once over and think about failure modes and worst cases before going on.

In 2018 there was a tower of cars on a spike. [1][2]

One of the cars bent in half (turns out cars aren't design to be supported by a stake in the middle but instead on their two axles. Who would have guessed).

Climbing was closed for the rest of the week.

In 2016 there was a giant boar you could climb on that swiveled at the base and head. There were rumors going around of severed fingers. Surprisingly (or not) it was welded stationary mid-week. [3][4]

[1] https://www.rgj.com/story/life/arts/burning-man/2018/08/29/b...

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/9crpce/night_at...

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/BurningMan/comments/51d1t5/comment/...

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4l-eAJT1Cg

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bsimpson an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"Safety third" is a mantra out there.

It's a reaction from people who feel overly cottled by the world of building permits and safety regulations - who want to be able to just make stuff and let people be responsible for their own choices.

Back to the Future creator Bob Gale also created Interstate 60. I remember it being one of the best movies you wouldn't have otherwise heard of; no idea if it holds up 20y later. One of the themes was that of the frontier - an escape valve for people who don't feel comfortable conforming to regular society. There's a big element of that at Burning Man.

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marssaxman an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> The other fell from an installation.

I'd like to know more about that incident, if you have any information. So far as I'm aware, it's the first time someone has died after falling off a structure at Burning Man (though plenty of people have been injured, of course).

	▲	alevskaya an hour ago \| parent [-]
		It is definitely not the first time. Years ago while doing a ranger shift my friend witnessed a young person fall to their death while climbing a structure. I remember another incident of someone jumping off a dome while psychotic that I suspect was fatal. You need to be sober and capable to climb sketchy stuff.

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pixl97 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not sure about that after it rains. After the last few years the death rate to quicksand may have increased a few billion percent.