Fire Safety Agreement: Open Fire (OF)

Open Fire Safety Liaison

The Open Fire Safety Liaison serves as the primary point of contact for all communication between your project and FAST, and is responsible for ensuring that the artwork’s use of fire conforms to all applicable guidelines. This responsibility includes:

• Ensuring that all items of required documentation are complete and accurate.
• Receiving feedback and addressing questions and safety concerns raised by the FAST Artist Liaison assigned to evaluate the project’s documentation.
• Promptly providing documentation updates to FAST, whether in response to FAST feedback or to design changes independently undertaken by the project.
• Ensuring that the artwork is constructed and burned in accordance with the plan approved by FAST, and that the artwork will not be burned while any identifiable safety hazards are present.

Burn Lead

The Burn Lead on a level one open fire project is responsible for the planning and execution of the burn itself. This role is inward-facing during the burn, focusing on the safe preparation and ignition of the artwork. Specific responsibilities include:

• Creating, in cooperation with the Perimeter Lead, a timeline for the burn, starting from formation of the perimeter and ending with release of the perimeter.
• Planning for the safe placement of all fuels such as additional firewood, accelerants and/or pyrotechnic devices.
• Detailed plan for the ignition of the artwork including crew placement and roles.
• Detailed plan for hazard mitigation after the artwork collapses and before the perimeter is released.
• Plan for managing any delays caused by weather or other circumstances.

Perimeter Lead

The Perimeter Lead is responsible for the formation and management of the safety perimeter for your burn, and for working with the FAST Lead assigned to supervise. This role is outward-facing during the burn, to protect the safety of those who have come to watch.

The person selected to be Perimeter Lead should have excellent organizational and communication skills, and the ability to stay calm in the midst of chaos. Specific responsibilities include:

• Pre-event perimeter crew volunteer recruitment and organization.
• Designation of subordinate perimeter managers at the quadrant level and below, as needed.
• Educating the entire perimeter crew to ensure that every member understands how to run the perimeter.
• Obtaining safety vests for the entire crew.
• Complete perimeter management plan and timeline, including plan for managing delays caused by weather or other circumstances.
• On-site perimeter crew management.
• Liaison with FAST, Rangers and ESD as needed.

Leave No Trace (LNT) Lead

The LNT Lead is responsible for organizing daily clean-up around the artwork, and the post-burn clean-up which in most cases begins the morning after the burn. The person selected to be LNT Lead should be an early riser, and should be adept at recruiting and organizing others to participate in clean-up efforts. Specific responsibilities include:

• Recruiting and organizing LNT crew and ensuring there are enough people for the task.
• Securing proper clean-up tools, including metal trash cans.
• Leading crew in both daily and post-burn clean-up efforts.

The post-burn clean-up includes pickup and removal of any unburned materials, metals, pyrotechnic debris and any other matter out of place (MOOP) on site. This includes the area beyond the perimeter boundary (i.e., out into the area where the audience had gathered to watch the burn), as well as any materials buried under the burn shield or playa surface. All MOOP removed must be packed out of Black Rock City.

Once the post-burn clean-up has been completed, the artist and the LNT Lead must meet with Art Support Services (ASS) for an inspection of the site and final check-out.

Burn Scenario

Your burn scenario is a complete, detailed description of how you will prepare and burn your artwork, how you will mitigate any hazards that remain in the immediate aftermath of the burn, and any other elements you will incorporate into your burn. This is the “what” and the “how” of your burn plan. It should include details such as:

• Burn shield
• Artwork materials and construction
• Objects to be removed from the structure before burning
• Structural hobbling to encourage the structure to fall in a particular way
• Supplementary fuel load (i.e., cordwood)
• Pyrotechnic or other special effects elements, if any
• Performance elements, if any
• Burn circle zones and perimeter details
• Accelerants to be used, how they will be applied, and the safety protocols your crew will follow during application
• How the burn will be ignited
• Weather contingency plan (see below)
• How you will mitigate hazards on the ground after the structure falls
• Your contingency plan in case the structure does not fall
• Overnight monitoring of the ember bed

Burn Timeline

Your burn timeline lays out the steps involved in executing your burn from start to finish, with the expected start time and duration for each step. This is the “when” and the “how long” of your burn plan. It should include any relevant steps such as:

• Perimeter establishment
• Clearing structure contents
• Cordwood loading
• Structural hobbling
• Pyro loading
• Stowaway/straggler check
• Weather check
• Accelerant application
• Performance
• Pyrotechnics show
• Ignition
• Combustion and collapse
• Hazard mitigation
• Perimeter release
• Crew accounting and check-out
• Overnight monitoring

Note that the items above are listed in the approximate order of occurrence for a typical burn. Every burn is unique, and your burn may have additional steps and/or a different order.

Required Diagrams

The following diagrams are required:

1. Burn circle layout, including:
   • Illumination: how the installation, including generators or other outlying features, will be illuminated at night.
   • Burn zones and perimeter, showing distances from the center of the artwork
   • Pyro details (mortar locations, fire control station)
   • Perimeter features, e.g., safety corridors, rally point, etc.
   • Any other important physical features or locations.
2. Burn shield platform, if not using decomposed granite
3. Structural details & hobbling if you intend to do any hobbling of the structure before burning
4. Special effects mechanisms to be used during your burn (e.g., liquid fuel dumps, etc.)
5. Base camp layout

• Storage location(s) for flammable liquids, fuel gasses or other hazardous/flammable materials.
• Storage location(s) for empty fuel containers, if different from above.
• Safety perimeters and barriers, and distances to public areas and habitations.
• 20′ wide fire lane from street to storage location(s) listed above.
• Fire extinguisher locations.

Operational Plans

Materials Not to Be Burned

Avoid incorporating plastics and synthetics into your artwork. The burning of any toxic materials in your artwork, such as those found in furniture, rugs, and many other objects typically used to decorate artworks,  is prohibited by law. Talk to your artist liaison or FAST representative if you have any questions about what is acceptable. All such items must be removed from your artwork before it is burned.

Prevent Airborne Embers

Fabric, cardboard, large sections of papier-mâché, thin wood laminates or plywood less than 5/8 inch (16mm) in thickness are not allowed at the time of the burn. These materials can cast large embers that can be carried by heat and wind causing unintended fires and damage.

Nails, Screws and Other Fasteners

You can use nails, screws, or other steel fasteners in the construction of your artwork. You are required to clean them from the burn site. A magnet rake is one of the greatest cleanup tools and can be purchased cheaply.

Burn Zones

In preparation for a burn, you must clearly identify and determine (with assistance from FAST) appropriate sizes for its burn zones. Starting from the center and working outward, the zones of a burn circle are:

• Danger Zone (No-Man’s Land)
  • Artwork / Fire Zone – The artwork is at the center; this is where the actual combustion takes place.
  • Collapse Zone – This is the area surrounding the fire zone where the structure may fall. It should be designed to include an allowance for pieces of the structure that may come loose and cartwheel outward when they hit the ground.
  • Pyrotechnics Zone – If the burn includes a pyrotechnics show, this zone is where the mortars surrounding the artwork are placed.
• Restricted Zone
  • Staff Zone – This is the area in which your crew does the work necessary to make the burn happen. If the burn includes a pyrotechnics show, the fire control station is within this zone.
  • Performance Zone – If the burn includes a performance component, this is where it occurs. Depending on the performance, it may incorporate prep areas (e.g., for fueling fire tools). There may be some overlap with the staff zone.
  • Perimeter Zone – This is the outermost ring of the restricted zone, occupied by members of your perimeter crew, who face outward toward the audience.
• Perimeter Boundary – This is the line that marks the outer edge of the restricted zone. For some burns it may be marked by delineators and caution tape, while for others it is simply an imaginary line on the ground.
• Audience Viewing Zone – This is the area where the audience is located and should remain until the perimeter is released.

Perimeter Layout and Features

The Perimeter Crew

Managing the Perimeter

Scheduled Burn Time

Although your burn time and day will be decided pre-event during your burn meeting, please confirm that time with FAST after checking in at the ARTery. While FAST will try to accommodate your preferred burn time, no guarantees are offered, and it may be changed due to weather, emergencies or other unforeseen circumstances.

Your Fire Safety Liaison is responsible for maintaining daily contact with FAST to stay apprised of any schedule adjustments or other advisories.

FAST Lead

At least one hour before your scheduled burn time (or earlier, depending on the complexity of your burn) a member of FAST designated as the FAST Lead supervising your burn will arrive at your installation to rendezvous and coordinate with the project team (artist and all leads).

Refrain from applying accelerants to the artwork before the FAST Lead arrives. You can and should be making other preparations prior to that time, however, and continue making them after the FAST Lead arrives.

The FAST Lead is a knowledgeable resource who can help you troubleshoot last-minute problems with your preparations. If in doubt about anything, don’t guess: make use of the FAST Lead’s expertise.

The FAST Lead has final say over when you are allowed to:

• Apply accelerants
• Start your performance and/or pyrotechnics show, if any
• Ignite the artwork
• Release the safety perimeter

Establishing the Perimeter

See Managing the Perimeter above. As noted there, plan to establish the perimeter several hours ahead of time to allow for preparation of the structure, loading of pyrotechnics, etc.

Preparing the Structure

Once the perimeter is set and there is no danger of participants entering the work area, the preparations can begin. Examples include:

• Clearing structure contents
• Cordwood loading
• Structural hobbling
• Pyro loading

All pyrotechnic material must be listed and approved pre-event. An inspection of its placement will be required on-site at the discretion of FAST.

Final Checks and Approval

When all the above preparations are complete, the FAST Lead, Burn Lead and Pyrotechnic Operator if any will make a final check of the artwork, looking for any stowaways or stragglers, and checking for any hazardous conditions that may have developed while preparations were underway.

dIf liquid accelerants are needed, a fueling team applies them at this time after being given the clear by the FAST Lead on site, using methods documented in the burn plan and approved by FAST at the pre-event meeting. A member of your burn team must follow a fueler  with a fully-charged fire extinguisher  (and trained in their use)  while accelerants are being applied. Each fueler must be followed by someone with an extinguisher. After a final check and fueling of the structure, the “No-Man’s Land” zone of the burn circle is closed to further entry until the artwork is ignited and the structure has fallen.

Just before ignition, the FAST Lead checks the weather. Barring any high wind conditions or other negative weather factors you will receive an OK to burn from the FAST lead. The FAST Lead issues the necessary license(s) for your burn, and informs the Black Rock Rangers and ESD that the artwork is ready to burn.

Ignition

At this time the final sequence of the burn, pyrotechnics and any ignition ritual can begin.

All of these elements of the burn must be conducted in a way that prevents premature ignition, to ensure the safety of the fuel team while they are in or near the fueled structure.

Important Note: No one on the fuel team should be tasked with the actual ignition of the structure, as there is a chance they will have fuel on their clothing.

Hazard Mitigation

Following structure collapse, for projects involving pyrotechnics the pyro crew must make a sweep of the pyrotechnics zone to check for unfired pyrotechnics such as mortars and gas mines. Any such materials must be neutralized before the perimeter is dropped. FAST will NOT allow a pyrotechnics crew member to enter a burning structure to check that pyrotechnics inside it have gone off.

Any unburned materials that have fallen beyond the burn shield must be thrown or pushed back into the fire. These items must not become tripping hazards for participants approaching the fire once the perimeter is dropped. If any rebar, ground screws/ground anchors or stakes are protruding above the playa surface that cannot be removed before the perimeter comes down, cones must be placed over them to alert participants.

Releasing the Perimeter

The perimeter can be released after:

1. All hazard mitigations listed above have been completed to the satisfaction of the FAST Lead.
2. No part of the artwork stands more than 7′ higher than the playa surface.

See Managing the Perimeter above for additional details.

Burn Aftermath

After the perimeter has been released, all members of the burn crew must be accounted for at the rally point at 3 o’clock. Perimeter volunteers must check out at the rally point at the 3:05 o’clock location where they checked in. Any crew member who fails to report to the rally point for check-out should be considered “missing in action”, and possibly injured or incapacitated, until they are located.

An overnight crew must stay with the embers to ensure participant safety and to prepare the area for clean up (LNT) in the morning. Do not allow participants to throw items that are not to be burned, like plastics or hazardous materials, into the fire.