Despite 2017 Fatality, No Fences Planned for Burns at Burning Man

RENO (AP) -- The Burning Man countercultural festival says it won't install fences around major burns at this year's event in the northern Nevada desert, a year after the death of a man who ran into flames of a towering wooden effigy.

A man holds up his arms at the conclusion of the Burning Man festival in northwest Nevada's Black Rock Desert. (Mike Nelson via Getty Images)

Officials surrounded another major burn with fencing the night after 41-year-old Aaron Mitchell's Sept. 2 death.

However, the Reno Gazette Journal reports that Burning Man officials said they plan other security measures but not fencing for large-scale burns at this year's event, planned for Aug. 26-Sept. 3 in the Black Rock Desert north of Reno.

The planned security measures include more safety personnel and longer protective barriers of volunteers.

Mitchell's death was ruled a suicide. Mitchell was originally from McAlester, Oklahoma, but had been living in Switzerland.