Forums > Technical Discussion > Spinning Fire in the U.S. - Where and When?

Posted: 12th Mar 2003
I only had a problem one time, it was during a 4th of july. there were thousands of people at the lake, but we had a 3X football field size area of fresh green grass, and this fire marshal came up and told us we had to stop. Now, let it be known, all the fireworks stuff was a mile away, on the other side of the lake, and there was nobody even close to us, well.....there were some kids that rushed us, and we stopped them and made them get way back, but they were still like 50 meters away when we stopped them.

The fire marshal guy was being a real idiot. I think it just scared him, cause he probably had never seen fire twirling befor.

Normaly there isn't any problem.

I usually spin in my front yard, in volley ball courts on campus, or on the grass on campus (in front of the library or dorms), or at the lake (as long as there isn't a brush fire danger due to a long dry weather spell).

Asking permition on campus is always a good idea, but we have been doing it for a couple years here and the local authorities know us and know we are safe, so that is never a problem. IT is more a matter of letting them know (so they don't get a call from some bystander calling 911 and have to go check it out) rather than asking permition. And of calling them so we know what the fire danger level is.

We do have "fire danger levels" that range from high to medium to low. If it is at low, no problem, med....well maybe, depending on location. High? out of the question, unless we go out to an isolated location with no burnable stuff nearby (we all ways have safety gear of course) Isolated being out in the country.

we eat and we drink and we smoke and we try!

Posted: 12th Mar 2003
There's a perfect place to spin fire here in Taipei. Most of the city is dense urban sprawl where massive numbers of people make it impossible to spin safely. But along the Keelung River, which cuts right through the city, there's a bunch of reclaimed land that has been converted into a great park. This park is long, stretching all the way up and down the river on both sides. There's a big high-water barrier cutting the park off from the city so that when you're inside it, you're completely isolated, even though there are high rises all around. It's really dark at night so the Taiwanese tend to avoid it. This is probably the safest city in the world in which to go out late at night, so there are never any problems at the park. Spinning and partying there doesn't bother anybody, and there will be no problems with police. All kinds of trees, grass fields, benches and other park amenities dot the scene. It's a great place.

Bzzzzz Blurb, Bzzzzzz Blurb, Fop pzzzzz, Fop Pazazzzz,

Posted: 13th Mar 2003
I can give you my 2 cents for California, the S.F. Bay Area in particular. Anywhere near or on the beach is kool, especially in Santa Cruz. The only time we got busted by the Rangers was for playing with flame throwers. Now, we're just moving to a more secluded beach.

In S.F....anywhere in a parking lot, behind a building or a dark alley Ocean Beach is pretty kool, lots of open sand..if you make a huge bonfire, then sometimes the neighbors will call the fire dept....but poi is totally fine really anywhere that's somewhat discrete and fire proof.

The experience of learning is living.