The 2024 Burning Man death, explained

Emergency services responded to an unresponsive female at the 2024 Burning Man Festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert on Sun. Aug. 25, 2024. In a news release, festival officials said life-saving measures were attempted at the scene but were unsuccessful.

According to festival organizers, the Pershing County Sheriff’s office identified the woman, but her name and age were not released to the press pending next of kin notification. At this writing, little is otherwise known about the circumstances of the woman’s death. The death was under investigation, and a cause of death would be determined after an autopsy, officials said. News of the woman’s death came just one day after festival gates were closed due to heavy rain in the area. It’s unclear if weather conditions contributed to what happened.

The 2023 death of Leon Reece

Burning Man is a nine-day festival focused on “community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance” held each year at Black Rock Desert, a temporary city established for the annual event attended by nearly 90,000 people. Several people have died at the festival by accident or suicide, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. In 2023, 32-year-old Leon Reece of Truckee, California was found unresponsive and later died from a suspected drug overdose, NBC News reported. Reece was the first person to die at the festival since 2003, when two attendees died in accidents.

Referring to the 2024 incident, Burning Man officials said in a statement, “The safety and well-being of our staff and community are paramount. We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident. The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office investigates all deaths that occur in its jurisdiction. Out of respect for the privacy of the grieving family, we will not be providing further details at this time.”

Burning Man controversies

The 2024 death at Burning Man was just the latest controversy facing the festival, which started in 1986 with a “man” burnt in effigy on a San Francisco beach, the celebration from which the event gets its name. The event moved to Nevada in 1990. Once free, the event is now managed by Black Rock City, LLC. As well as Leon Reece’s death in 2023, heavy rains and flooding stranded attendees, many of whom were celebrities who paid nearly $3,000 for a ticket. Rumors of an Ebola outbreak also spread at Burning Man that year, but they were proven false.

With the prevalence of rich attendees, many from California’s Silicon Valley, and some of whom pay tens of thousands of dollars to “glamp,” the confluence of several safety concerns has left many questioning whether the spirit of Burning Man has changed. These concerns include overly massive crowds, rampant drug use, cost, and waste generated by the event.

In a Medium post, Adriana Roberts, who had attended the festival for years said the 2023 event would be her last, citing a “burnier than thou” attitude in the crowd and Black Rock City conditions. ” … [M]y last two years were brutal,” Roberts said. “Two years ago I got heatstroke … Turns out the Black Rock Desert is a really stupid place to have a party!” she said.