Get Involved

Thank you for your interest in Rangering this year! We look forward to seeing you at training and rangering together in the woods! If you have any questions, please email rangers@fireflyartscollective.org.

NOTE: To volunteer for the Firefly Rangers, we ask that you have either attended Firefly a previous year, or that you have experience rangering at other burns.

Ranger Survey

Please fill out the 2024 Ranger survey! This will let you know that you are interested. Included is a list of dates when we offer Ranger training (you can also see list below.)

Training Overview

All Firefly Rangers are required to do training every year. We make some changes each year, so please be patient!

In preparation for training, please review the materials in this wiki indicated below for your level of experience.

If you have any questions about your level of experience and requirements, email rangers@fireflyartscollective.org

*****THIS SECTION IS STILL BEING UPDATED FOR 2024.****

Trainings in 2024 will be in 2 parts:

1-Intros and Policy & Procedure Highlights

2-Basic Ranger training (All other P & P info, Basic Skills, Radio)

For most trainings (any in June), Khaki training will be offered at the same time as Basic Training.

We will also be asking that all Ranger read the manual BEFORE training.

"Full basic training" includes these parts of this wiki / manual: Policy & Procedure, Basic Ranger Skills, and Radio Basics. All off-site Firefly trainings include all of these. Basic Ranger Skills & Radio Basics are also covered by Black Rock City Ranger trainings (offered around the country), although we ask you to review our Policy & Procedures since many are Firefly-specific.

Alphas (1st year)

If this is your first year rangering, you will be an “alpha." You will need full basic training (see above).

You must have attended Firefly a previous year, or have rangering experience at another burn (if so, see section on New Experienced Rangers below.) If you have any questions, email rangers@fireflyartscollective.org

Choose a Ranger Handle

If you don’t already have a Ranger Handle, you will need one to be a Ranger! A Ranger Handle is a unique (i.e., no one else using it at Firefly this year), radio-friendly name that has some personal meaning to you. Most are two to three syllables. Please do not use your legal name.

If you would like to change your Ranger handle, please contact the Personnel Team ranger-personnel@lists.fireflyartscollective.org.

Shiny Pennies (2nd Year)

If this is your second year rangering, you are a “shiny penny”. You still need full basic training.

Returning Rangers (3rd+ Year)

If you have rangered two or more years, you will need to take P & P. If you haven’t done full training recently, we ask you to take Basic Ranger Skills.

You are also encouraged to take advanced training modules: Intro to Khaki (required for KIT & Khaki),

We recommend looking at these these advanced sections (not offered as training in 2024): Conflict Resolution, Mentoring, Advanced Khaki I-Leadership Skills, Advanced Khaki II-Problem Solving, Echelon.

New Experienced Rangers

We are always happy to have rangers joining us from other burns. Depending on your level of experience, you may be eligible for exceptions to training requirements. If have not been to Firefly before, we ask that you take our Firefly-specific Policy & Procedure, offered at all our trainings (including onsite.) Please contact rangers@fireflyartscollective.org for more information.

Please be aware that there are some differences between Firefly and other burns, particularly Burning man.

• Layout. We expect all our rangers to be able to navigate Firefly effectively. Please take some time when you arrive to familiarize yourself with path names, major camps, and different areas/landmarks (eg, the Field, the Pool). You can also take a look at the map ahead of time.
• We are a much smaller event (about 1500 participants), and as such everything is smaller.

• Our ranger council is much smaller and hands-on that the BRC Ranger council
• Echelon at Firefly is stationary at HQ. See Echelon description.
• We do NOT have law enforcement or Firefighters on site at all times. We have contracted EMTs & Security.
• We use ICS for emergencies, but only require that dirt Rangers know to check in with Khaki or the OOD.
• We have a different Early Arrival process, as well as Exodus. If you have questions, please email rangers@fireflyartscollective.org.

If you have any questions about your level of experience and requirements, email rangers@fireflyartscollective.org

Ranger Training Opportunities

Complete the 2024 Ranger survey to sign up for one of these training dates. You only need to attend one of these. If you have to change your training date or none of these work for you, email rangers@fireflyartscollective.org.

Local Trainings in June (In-person)

Dates TBD

In-person in Cambridge area, Tuesday night 7pm (date TBD)

In-person in Cambridge area, weekend

Virtual (Zoom)Trainings in May & June

Wednesday May 22, 2024, 7pm (does NOT include Khaki training)

Thursday June 13, 2024, 7pm (DOES include Khaki training

Black Rock Ranger Trainings

Sign up at http://rangers.burningman.org/training/

The Boston area BRR training date has not yet been announced.

Onsite Training

Wednesday July 3, 2024, 2 - 4pm at Firefly Ranger HQ

We strongly suggest attending one of the pre-event trainings in Cambridge if you are able to, as onsite training is often shortened and intended for out-of-town rangers. Email rangers@fireflyartscollective.org for more information.

Shift sign up

2024 sign up through volunteer system: https://volunteer.fireflyartscollective.org/team/384 . Once you fill out the Annual Ranger Survey, we will update your qualifications to include "Ranger Training 2024" and you can sign up for shifts.

New Rangers ("ALPHAS"): When you do sign up for shifts, your first shift will be as an “Alpha” ranger, where you walk with a mentor. Subsequent shifts will be regular “dirt” shifts.

Note: any "dirt" shift can be a mentor shift if there are alphas who need mentors, you have rangered at least one year, and you are comfortable mentoring.

See At-Event Ranger Roles for more details on eligibility for particular roles.

Graveyard & Late-in-Event Shifts

If you are able to do any 2am-6am shift, or any shifts from the Bug Burn onwards (Friday night onwards), PLEASE sign up for these shifts! We always have a hard time filling these shifts, and are very grateful to volunteers who take these on. (We also have a special item of swag for rangers who do these shifts.)

Keep In Touch

Any rangers who fill out the survey will be added to the ranger allcom list; you should also receive an invitation to join our Facebook group. Please keep an eye out for announcements!

If you have any questions, please email rangers@fireflyartscollective.org.

Changes and Highlights for 2024

For returning Rangers, notes about what has changed since last year.

2024 Ranger Council Changes

Ranger Co-Leads: Roomba & Dolphin

Other council members: KT, Tall German, KitKat

See Current Ranger leadership for more about the Ranger council.

2024 Changes

We are reorganizing the ranger training to have a much shorter policy & procedure portion, and will be expecting all volunteers to read the Ranger Manual.

We will be reorganizing this wiki into sections, with clearer & more succinct

We will try to accommodate volunteers with limited mobility who want to volunteer for Echelon by scheduling low-mobility alpha shifts on a case-by-case basis.

We will provide more in-depth training than 2023.

2022 Changes:

Officer of the Day

Officer of the Day is no longer be a Ranger role, as it is pivoting over to a daily event lead drawn from Safety Cluster volunteers to act as a liaison between the Safety Cluster and the Board as well as a resource for Khaki to call upon for incidents or complex situations that may escalate to use Incident Command System, allowing Khaki to manage Ranger resources as needed for the event instead of having cascading responsibilities.

Continue on to the next page: At-Event Ranger Roles