Bummer. Last time a major art piece got torched prematurely that I can remember it was Steve Heck's assemblage of wood, piano harps & large glass lenses in 1999. He saw it going up from across the playa, but nobody found the people responsible. Really broke his heart.

I'm not sure what conclusions you can draw. People try to climb the Man just about every year, not caring about breaking the neon or the structure. People steal, smash or burn things like the lantern spires, street signs, generators, bikes & pieces of art installations not firmly attached. But this obviously takes chronic theft and/or vandalism to a new level.