Sure, temporary holiday arborists can send their dry and withering Christmas trees to the wood chipper starting this week. But why put DPW and Recology through all that trouble for just a tiny bit of biofuel material, when you could instead send it all up in a furious ball of atmosphere-choking pine particulates? Which is exactly what one group of Burning Man types and other assorted pyromaniacs plans to do this Sunday at Ocean Beach.

Don't get us wrong here — previous years at the Post-Yule Pyre have proved to be both entertaining (in a "how are these 200 people going to elude the cops while dragging Christmas trees across the Great Highway" sort of way) and cathartic (because: fire, obviously). Likewise, the burn is not technically illegal, assuming this Sunday night is not declared a Spare the Air day (which, at this rate, there's a strong chance it will be). There's also the small matter of keeping all those flammable materials inside of the designated fire pits, but like so many laws in this town, that one has been overlooked by authorities over the event's 21-year history. Friends of the Rootless Forest, the group spearheading the burn, even takes to the beaches to clean up the ashes the next day.

Since this is a Burning Man-adjacent event, expect fire-twirling types to be on hand for the dramatic photo opportunities. If nothing else, Frank Chu will probably be there. And because the scope of the bonfire is best experienced through dark, grainy video, here's footage from last year's burn shot by the sandcombers at Ocean Beach Bulletin:

The exact location on Ocean Beach will be announced closer to this Sunday's burn, so keep an eye on the Post-Yule Pyre's twitter feed. And if you've already tossed out your own holiday tree, don't forget you can always pick one up off the street.