Ocean Beach Fire Pit Project

In 2007, the National Park Service almost banned fires on Ocean Beach in San Francisco, due to consistent problems with trash and debris.

The Burning Man community joined others in opposing the ban, and in part in response to a community plea, more than 3,000 letters poured in to the Park Service, who agreed to give it one more chance–only this time with designated fire pits.

What? A chance to build permanent, public fire art in San Francisco? As you can imagine, we had to be part of that solution, and that’s how Burners Without Borders began collaborating with the National Park Service and the Surfrider Foundation to  design and build artistic fire pits for Ocean Beach. 

The call was put out to the community for fire pit designs. Over thirty five were submitted, and six were chosen to take to the Parks Project Review Committee. Most of the designs were approved immediately, and the artists have since completed 8 artistic fire pits at Ocean Beach. 

Although the Park Service could only offer $3,000 for the project, BWB was able to raise almost $40,000 for the eight artistic fire pits over the course of the project.

The Future

Once the fire pits were on the beach, they are the property of the National Park Service who is charged with maintaining them. The fire pits at Ocean Beach face an uncertain future at this time due to budget cuts that impact the NPS’ ability to clean the beach and the difficulty law enforcement has in patrolling the miles of beach at night. BWB plans to be a part of the conversation regarding any bans on fires at OB should the need arise in the future.

 


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