No fences around major burns at Burning Man event this year

RENO, Nev. (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.

Officials surrounded another major burn with fencing the night after 41-year-old Aaron Mitchell’ 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.

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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com