Black Rock Ranger

A Black Rock Ranger, often referred to simply as a Ranger, is a volunteer non-confrontational community mediator who, along with conventional law enforcement officials, works to maintain order and safety at Burning Man. Rangers are drawn from a broad cross-section of the Burner community, and undergo training to qualify as Rangers. They can be easily identified by their khaki-colored costumes (typically including a Ranger t-shirt and white hats with the Burning Man logo).
About the Black Rock Rangers
Black Rock Rangers pride themselves on serving the community in the most unobtrusive and non-confrontational way possible, seeing their role as that of community mediators. As such Rangers differ greatly from the traditional event security personnel found at many large events. Ranger interactions are based upon a process called FLAME (Find out, Listen, Analyze, Mediate, Explain), depending upon and empowering the community to own and solve problems, and enlisting the community in crafting solutions when escalation has been necessary.
The organization was officially formed in 1992. In describing the ideal qualities of a Black Rock Ranger, it has been said that "helpful qualities include a sense of humor, flexibility, integrity, patience, empathy, focus, and an unwavering commitment to both the event and the participants who make it happen." Rangers are fellow event participants, who, as part of "their art" contribute community service. The role of the Rangers has evolved over time and the more security-related tasks (such as Gate and Perimeter) and the specialist medical and fire services have been spun off into separate organizations to preserve the core mediation role.
In addition to mediating disputes, Rangers can also be found assisting Burners with giving directions, guarding the man, first aid, structural hazards associated with poor theme camp design, helping lost Burners, and other issues that arise in the harsh environment of the Black Rock Desert. Rangers also staff Sanctuary, a resource for Burners who are disoriented, grieving, under the influence, or otherwise needing a break from the rigors of the event. Ranger stations can be found at the center of Black Rock City, as well as at the 3:00 and 9:00 plazas (see the main Burning Man article for more on Black Rock City's layout).
Ranger subgroups oversee different duties; for example, the Dirt Rangers patrol the city on foot and bicycle and maintain perimeters at fire performances for safety, Rapid Night Response (RNR) provides night-time playa bicycle coverage, Law Enforcement and Agency Liaison (LEAL) works with law enforcement, acting as a buffer for event participants, Eviction Rangers implement solutions for escalated incidents, Intercept enforces driving safety, and Echelon provides logistical and materiel support to the Ranger organization, manning the headquarters location and operating several support vehicles.
The Black Rock Rangers are not law enforcement personnel -- which include the Pershing County Sheriff's Department, the Washoe County Sheriff's Department, the Bureau of Land Management, the Nevada Highway Patrol, and others -- but they do enforce the community standards of Black Rock City, such as the ban on commercial vending, fireworks, and firearms. As the first on the scene of many community disputes or issues, Rangers are often able to resolve the conflict without the involvement of law enforcement. (Rangers are mandated to involve law enforcement for incidents of violence and child, elder, and spousal abuse, and occasionally request law enforcement assistance, as necessary.)
Rangers outside Black Rock City
Many Rangers work throughout the year preparing for the event so that the bulk of the organization can begin work immediately on arrival on the playa. The Ranger Operations group and Ranger Council work together to ensure comprehensive planning occurs long before the event.
Mandatory BRC Ranger training - Ranger Orientation Meetings (ROMs) - begin in late spring and continues throughout the summer. Training takes place in San Francisco as well as in a number of regional Burn communities including Seattle, Sacramento, New York, Texas, Maryland, Missouri, and on the Black Rock playa.
First time Black Rock Rangers who have attended a training arrive on the Playa as "Alpha Rangers" and spend a day shift, or swing shift, walking with two different Rangers from the Mentor Team. The Mentors are tasked with deciding if the Alpha Ranger has the skill set necessary to be a Black Rock Ranger, or if their skills would be better suited to volunteering in a different capacity at the event.
Some of the regional Burning Man events also have different types of Rangers, such as the Pyropolis Rangers of Burning Flipside, InterRangers of InterFuse, as well as Apo Rangers at Apogaea which may require different skill sets for a wide variety of diverse and challenging environments. Rangers from other regions may need different proficiencies at other events, thus localized training may be required for Pyropolis Rangers, InterRangers, Apo Rangers and Black Rock Rangers.

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