Fact Check: Is FEMA at Burning Man? Lockdown over mysterious sickness conspiracy claim debunked

The Burning Man Festival happens annually over the weekend before Labor Day in Black Rock City in northwestern Nevada. It is the celebration of community, art, self-expression and self-reliance, and culminates into the symbolic burning of a giant 40-foot wooden effigy, often referred to as the Man.

This year, amidst the ongoing Burning Man Festival, a piece of news emerged on the internet that Black Rock City is under lockdown and has even been declared a national emergency as people present there are suffering from a mysterious viral disease, that is spreading rapidly and resulting in “boils, vomiting, and coughing up coagulated blood.”

Not only that, rumors arose that the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA has been deployed to the Black Rock City to shut down the Burning Man Festival and lock down the entire place, with over 73,000 people stranded inside.

However, the news has turned out to be fake. Neither is there a mysterious viral disease nor has FEMA been sent to the Burning Man Festival.

Instead, NBC reported that visitors there are trapped due to poor weather conditions, such as heavy rains, storms, and flash floods. Additionally, the alleged announcement of a "national emergency" has also turned out to be false.

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FEMA is not at the Burning Man Festival ground

More than 70,000 people are currently in attendance at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, scheduled from August 27 to September 4. However, the weather conditions deteriorated in Black Rock City over the weekend and even flooded the festival grounds. As a result, the visitors got stuck in the region with no way in or out.

In the wake of this, a false claim surfaced on the internet that FEMA had been deployed to the Burning Man Festival to handle the flood crisis. Later, another fake report arose that FEMA had not only locked down Black Rock City due to an unknown communicable viral disease (even the term “Ebola” was mentioned) allegedly doing the rounds there, but also declared the situation to be a “national disaster.”

Both the claims, however, have turned out to be misleading.

FEMA was nowhere near the Burning Man Festival ground. In fact, when President Joe Biden was briefed about the situation at the Black Rock City, the National Guard was offered for assistance.

However, the organizers of the festival declined the help and even stressed that “there is no cause for alarm” as cited by Consequence. In a statement to NBC News, the CEO of Burning Man Project, Marian Goodell, even said:

“We’re very pleased and surprised that there has been such a fuss over us. We’ve made it really clear that we do not see this as an evacuation situation.”

Meanwhile, a statement was also released on the official website of the Burning Man Festival. It said how they are a community of people who support each other, adding that they went to Black Rock City knowing that it had everything they needed to survive together.

“We are all well-prepared for a weather event like this. We have done tabletop drills for events like this. We are engaged full-time on all aspects of safety and looking ahead to our exodus as our next priority.”

However, Burning Man authorities have urged people stranded to take shelter in warm places, such as camps, and try and conserve food, water, and fuel, until the rainstorms subside.

Officials also ascertained that despite the muddy conditions, they were hopeful that attendees would be able to exit the playa Monday morning onwards. In fact, mobile cell service trailers and buses were being deployed to evacuate all those stranded to the closest town Reno, as reported by Insider.

The organizers also told NBC News that the “online rumors of transmissible illness in Black Rock City are unfounded and untrue.”

Interestingly, a physician who earlier attended the festival told Insider that even though the news of viral disease was false, there were certain health risks involved with the current weather conditions in the area including hypothermia, stomach bugs, and various other food and water-borne illnesses.

While the organizers have closed the entrance and exit to the festival and are ensuring the welfare of the attendees, one person succumbed to the conditions on Saturday, although the real cause of his death was not disclosed by the Pershing County Sheriff's Office that released the news first.

In fact, it stated that the death was currently under investigation. The Sheriff’s Office also told Insider that more rainstorms were expected in the next few days which “could cause further delays and disruptions.”

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Officials have meanwhile requested people to stay away from rumors and keep checking for updates on their community networks such as Facebook and X pages, as well as Burning Man Information Radio (BMIR). They also stated that they were collaborating constantly on state, federal, county, local, and tribal levels and monitoring the situation.