Wow, that story is a great example of "it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission". Just drive to the desert and burn it, don't waste 100 hours trying to get permission from the state of California to burn it.
Is it though? They got a bunch of assistance from the folks at Lawrence Livermore, and the photographer was happy to not take pictures of fire in direct sun. Asking permission likely got a much better outcome; the author sounded pretty unprepared to ignite the thing without the help he got.