The Burning Man event started in 1986 on Baker Beach in San Francisco when Larry Harvey and Jerry James built the first "Man." It evolved from small gatherings into an annual pilgrimage to the Nevada desert for tens of thousands of people. Billed as focusing on community, art, self-expression and self-reliance, the festival is highlighted by the burning of a wooden effigy.
A group of campers the size of a small city descends upon the Black Rock Desert of Pershing County each year during the week leading up to Labor Day. Organizers say people "participate in" the festival, not attend, and over 78,000 "Burners" reportedly participated in 2019.
The Pershing County Sheriff's Office indicated during an email exchange that the number of arrests vary significantly from year to year and depend on a variety of factors, including weather. While the 2023 event resulted in eleven arrests, 2025 had 44, plus another four citations.
Material obtained through public records requests by Expanding Frontiers Research (EFR) include case reports, witness statements, digital images and similar documentation submitted into evidence by the Pershing County Sheriff's Office. The records reveal a high percentage of arrests involve charges stemming from domestic violence, battery, and drug and alcohol abuse. As a deputy wrote in case report 24-279, an arrest that included a battery charge, "The Burning Man Festival is known as a high crime, high drug sales and use event."
At least four people died of causes ranging from natural to criminal in recent years at the event. In 2025, a 37-year-old Russian national, Vadim Kruglov, was found dead in a pool of blood. Officials reportedly believe he was murdered at roughly the same time "The Man" was set ablaze and burned. Responsive records on the case are not yet subject to disclosure as it currently remains an open investigation. The sheriff's office advised EFR its request for related case records was added to a queue and will be processed when the material becomes available for release.
The Burning Man master folder being compiled by EFR contains:
View images included in case files provided by the Pershing County Sheriff's Office in response to a request for records on Burning Man:
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