Woman dies on first day of Burning Man festival, prompting police investigation

A woman died at the Burning Man arts festival over the weekend, authorities and the event organizers said. The circumstances around her death weren’t immediately clear, but law enforcement has confirmed that there’s an investigation underway to determine what happened.

Members of the festival’s emergency services team found the woman unresponsive at around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, which was the opening day of Burning Man’s weeklong event schedule, the organizers announced on the festival’s website. 

Organizers said the responders performed life-saving measures on the woman that ultimately were unsuccessful, and sheriff’s deputies later pronounced her dead when they arrived at the scene. Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen, whose jurisdiction is centered about 45 miles from the remote Black Rock Desert in Nevada where Burning Man takes place, said authorities would withhold the woman’s name from the public until they were able to contact her next of kin.

Burning Man’s emergency dispatch notified the sheriff’s office about “the potential death of a participant” at the festival several minutes after discovering her unresponsive, according to Allen.

“Deputies responded to the address provided and confirmed the death of a female participant,” the sheriff said in a statement. The office’s investigation into her death will remain open while an autopsy is conducted to determine the official cause and manner in which she died, he added. CBS News reached out to the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office for more information but has not received a response.

Both the sheriff and the festival organizers offered their condolences to the woman’s friends and family. Organizers said they “understand that this news will be difficult for many in our community” and noted that desert rangers would be available around the clock to provide peer support as would members of Burning Man’s crisis support team.

“The safety and well-being of our staff and community are paramount,” they said. “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 annually draws around 80,000 people to the desert playa in northwestern Nevada, where attendees build a temporary metropolis and camp together in what’s billed as an entirely self-sustaining community focused largely on art. Organizers technically reject the characterization of Burning Man as a festival, instead referring to it as “a city wherein almost everything that happens is created entirely by its citizens, who are active participants in the experience.” The “city” is eventually demolished by the participants at the end of the event each year.

People have died at Burning Man before, including one person in 2023.