Burning Man arsonist dies on BART tracks

Paul Addis after being booked in Lovelock, Nev., in 2007 for torching the Burning Man icon prematurely. Addis died Oct. 27, 2012, in San Francisco when he jumped in front of a BART train. Paul Addis after being booked in Lovelock, Nev., in 2007 for torching the Burning Man icon prematurely. Addis died Oct. 27, 2012, in San Francisco when he jumped in front of a BART train. Photo: Ho, AP Photo: Ho, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Burning Man arsonist dies on BART tracks 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

(10-30) 17:40 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A man who spent time in prison for setting the Burning Man wooden icon on fire four days too soon in 2007 was identified Tuesday as the man who died after jumping in front of a BART train over the weekend.

Paul Addis, 42, a performance artist and playwright with no known address, jumped in front of the Daly City-bound train at the Embarcadero Station in San Francisco at about 7:50 p.m. Saturday, authorities said. He died at the scene.

Addis served nearly two years in prison in Nevada after the August 2007 stunt in Black Rock Desert in which he set the 40-foot-tall man-statue ablaze ahead of schedule. He told The Chronicle after his arrest on arson and other charges that Burning Man had become too suburban and needed spontaneity.

"This was not an act of vengeance, it was one of love," Addis said. "A love of the ethos that is fading at Burning Man. There's no sense of spontaneity. No sense of 'F- it. Let's burn this down.' "

Addis also had a brush with the law in 2008 in San Francisco when he was found with a backpack full of fireworks outside Grace Cathedral after telling neighbors the church "isn't going to be there anymore." He pleaded no contest to fireworks possession and was ordered to undergo counseling.