Burning Man festival descends into chaos with huge traffic jams and fire tornados

Burning Man festival returned after three years and it seemed to be the wildest week yet.

The week-long festival, running from 28 August to 5 September, features fire tornadoes, 'Thunderdome fights', and eight-hour traffic delays.

We're not sure what else you expect from a festival that sits in the heart of the Black Rock Desert desert and calls itself the 'crucible of creativity'.

Still, when revellers pitched up for the week ahead, they were met with a few new additions to the Black Rock City, which forms each year and offers everything from live music to art installations, and of course, the famous burning man, set alight at every festival.

First on this year's agenda? The Thunderdome - seriously, the festival organised a dome where burners could fight each other while swinging about on harnesses with foam sticks.

If that wasn't enough, weather conditions meant fire tornadoes formed around the festival's annual wooden man burning ceremony.

Video footage from nearby on 3 September shows swirling flame tornadoes form as the wooden man burns.

If you're wondering at this point why the festival centres around a burning man, as the company, says: "We will always burn the Man," we're assuming they mean metaphorically as well as physically.

Still, people seemed more than happy to sit in their deck chairs and watch as fire swirled around the statue.

Even so, if you thought partying in the desert was without its consequences, you're sorely mistaken, with the official Burning Man travel account warning of extreme delays accessing the site: "Exodus wait time is currently around 8 hours. Consider delaying your departure until conditions improve. If you must leave now, drive on L Street to prevent traffic jams. Drive slowly, watch for road debris, follow directions from Gate staff, and listen to BMIR 94.5FM."

That's right, burners could expect wait times of up to eight hours just in an attempt to get into the festival, and if that's not a commitment to a summer sesh, we're not sure what is.

UNILAD has contacted Burning Man for comment.

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Topics: News, Viral, World News

Shola Lee

Shola Lee began her journalism career while studying for her undergraduate degree at Queen Mary, University of London and Columbia University in New York. She has written for the Columbia Spectator, QM Global Bloggers, CUB Magazine, UniDays, and Warner Brothers' Wizarding World Digital. Recently, Shola took part in the 2021 BAFTA Crew and BBC New Creatives programme before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news, trending stories, and features.