Fire Blooms

A few years ago a problem arose on the local San Francisco beaches. The problem was that there were too many fires and not enough clean-up. The National Park Service decided that since it was so costly to maintain the clean-up year after year with no additonal funds to support it, they would ban the fires. The Fire Bloom project is one that involves San Francisco Bay Area communities of artists, environmentalists and fabricators to resolve the issue of fires on local beaches. 

The Fire Bloom itself is a large hand-worked steel fire pit, sculpted in the form of the Beach Primrose flower, a native of Northern California beaches. The Bloom creates the space for community, education and play for the timeless ritual of making fire. The half-opened Bloom, resting on the sand and facing the sky, features four broad petals whose overlapping and rippled edges contain a sturdy basin for fire.

The Bloom’s gently curved shape beckons the beach visitor closer, as the fire within gleams from decorative slits circling its sides. The Fire Bloom volunteer work crew includes women and men who are engineers, writers, designers, painters, music producers and technologists.

 

The first Fire Bloom was made in San Francisco at the Boxshop between the months of January and March 2007. This Fire Bloom is the largest of the series, with an outer diameter of six feet and depth of five feet. It is made from 100% recycled steel - a repurposed old water tank from the Forties! The design of this Bloom is one that resembles a flower that is fully opened, or fully bloomed. All the petals are extended and open to the sky receiving the sun and holding the largest fire within. We installed the first Fire Bloom on Ocean Beach at the end of April 2007.

The second Fire Bloom was made in the American Steel building in Oakland. Our team reconvened in the summer of 2007 to create yet another beautiful Bloom. This one was also made entirely from recycled steel but the design differed slightly. This Bloom, also part of the Beach Primrose series, resembles a flower that is just beginning to open. The petals curl under on some of the petals while opening and extending on others. The size of the second Fire Bloom is also slightly smaller than the first one with an outer diameter of five feet and a depth of approximately four feet. We installed the second Fire Bloom in July of 2007 to the delight and enjoyment of many people that like a warm toasty fire on a chilly San Francisco beach!

The third Fire Bloom was also made at the American Steel Building in Oakland, CA. We began this piece in the fall of 2007 and worked on a completely different design than the previous ones. This one was planned to look like a flower that had been blown over by the wind and tilted towards the shore. It proved to be our most complicated shape yet. We worked on it for many months and finally, as spring approached, we had a new Fire Bloom to place on the beach. Our fans loved the new design and it was proving to be a bit warmer than the previous designs.

The fourth Fire Bloom was made at the Shipyard Labs in Berkeley. We moved our shop to Berkeley in the fall of 2008. This Bloom is decidedly smaller than the last three, yet it still burns a good fire! Our crew got back together after a summer of working on other projects and created this fourth and not the last Fire Bloom for the beach. We nicknamed this one Li'l Punkin'.

This initiative was made possible by the collaboration between the National Park Service, the Surfrider Foundation and Burners without Borders.

 

 

 

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