El Dorado fire started by pyrotechnic device at gender reveal party on 9/5. Videos “showed them standing in 3 to 4 foot high seasonal grass like this.“ NBC LA video, at :57, 9/8/20, “Gender Reveal Smoke Machine Sparks Massive Fire in Yucaipa | NBCLA”
“The device ignited four-foot-tall grass at El Dorado Ranch Park on Sept. 5….A firefighter died on Sept. 17 battling the blaze–labeled the El Dorado Fire––in the San Bernardino National Forest.”
Sept. 18, 2020, “Firefighter dies battling blaze, another fire burns homes,“ AP, ABC News, Marco Jose Sanchez, John Antczak, Juniper Hills, Ca.
“The death of a firefighter on the lines of a wildfire east of Los Angeles was under investigation Friday….The death occurred Thursday in San Bernardino National Forest as crews battled the El Dorado Fire about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of LA, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement.
The fire erupted earlier this month [9/5] from a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby’s gender, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said.
The name of the firefighter was being withheld until family members are notified….
The El Dorado Fire has burned more than 33 square miles (85.4 square kilometers) and was 66% contained, with 10 buildings destroyed and six damaged.
Cal Fire said earlier this month that the El Dorado Fire was ignited Sept. 5 when a couple, their young children and someone there to record video staged the baby gender reveal at El Dorado Ranch Park at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains.
The device was set off in a field and quickly ignited dry grass. The couple frantically tried to use bottled water to extinguish the flames and called 911.
Authorities have not released the identities of the couple, who could face criminal charges and be held liable for the cost of fighting the fire.
Shortly after the fire began, San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson issued a statement saying he was aware of the community’s concerns about how the fire started.
“If investigative reports are filed with our office, we will review all facts, evidence, statements, and reports to determine what criminal charges, if any, need to be filed,” Anderson said.
In 2017, a massive Arizona wildfire was accidentally started by an off-duty Border Patrol agent who shot a target filled with an explosive blue powder at a gender reveal. The fire burned 73 square miles (189 square kilometers) and caused $8 million in damage, The agent was charged with a misdemeanor and sentenced to probation.”…
Above two images, 2017 Arizona "gender reveal" wildfire, “Video shows border agent’s gender-reveal explosion that sparked 2017 wildfire [in Arizona],” 11/27/18, CBS This Morning, You Tube
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Added: 9/18/20, Casket of dead firefighter who perished battling El Dorado inferno started by “gender reveal” party on Sept. 5, 2020. “Procession honors firefighter who died battling blaze caused by gender-reveal pyrotechnics,” ABC7
9/7/20, 9/18/20, “A Gender-Reveal Celebration Is Blamed for a Wildfire. It Isn’t the First Time,” NY Times, Morales, Waller
“The El Dorado fire in California ignited as a family was using a “pyrotechnic device” to announce the gender of a new baby, the authorities said.”
“An elaborate plan to reveal a baby’s gender went disastrously wrong when a “smoke-generating pyrotechnic device” ignited a wildfire that consumed thousands of acres east of Los Angeles over Labor Day weekend, the authorities said.
The device ignited four-foot-tall grass at El Dorado Ranch Park on Sept. 5, and efforts to douse the flames with water bottles proved fruitless, Capt. Bennet Milloy of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, said on Sept. 7. The family called 911 to report the fire and shared photos with investigators.
A firefighter died on Sept. 17 battling the blaze–labeled the El Dorado Fire–in the San Bernardino National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service said.
The fire continued to burn actively and had ballooned to more than 20,000 acres as of Sept. 18. It was 66 percent contained, the authorities said. . It was just one of several fires that continued to burn out of control up and down California throughout the month….
Criminal charges were being considered, but would not be filed before the fire is extinguished, Captain Milloy said. Cal Fire could also ask those responsible to reimburse the cost of fighting the fire, he added….
Gender-reveal celebrations became popular about a decade ago as a way for new parents to learn the sex of their child, often in the presence of family and friends. Simple versions of these celebrations often involve couples cutting open pink or blue cakes, or popping balloons filled with pink or blue confetti….
The gender-reveal celebration that sparked the El Dorado fire wasn’t the first one to end in mayhem. It wasn’t even the first one to end in a wildfire.
One celebration sparked a wildfire in Arizona.
In April 2017 near Green Valley, Ariz., about 26 miles south of Tucson, an off-duty Border Patrol agent fired a rifle at a target filled with colored powder and Tannerite, a highly explosive substance, expecting to learn the gender of his child.
When placed with colorful packets of powder and shot at, Tannerite can fill the air with colorful residue for gender-reveal parties: blue for boys or pink for girls.
The resulting explosion sparked a fire that spread to the Coronado National Forest. It consumed more than 45,000 acres, resulted in $8 million in damages and required nearly 800 firefighters to battle it. The border agent immediately reported the fire and admitted that he started it, the United States attorney for the District of Arizona said in September 2018.
The agent, Dennis Dickey, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of United States Forest Service regulations, admitting that he had ignited what became known as the Sawmill Fire, and agreed to pay more than $8.1 million in restitution.
In April 2018, a car in Australia that was emitting blue, billowing smoke burst into flames, leading to the driver’s conviction for dangerous operation of a car.
The Queensland Police Service released footage of the incident to warn the public about “burnouts,” in which cars emit thick clouds of blue or pink smoke to signal a baby’s gender. Such stunts had become a popular fixture of gender-reveal celebrations in Australia, the authorities said, often leading to car fires and arrests.
A plane crashed after dumping gallons of pink water in Texas.
In September 2019, a crop-dusting plane stalled and crashed after it dumped thousands of gallons of pink water over a field in Texas. The pilot and a passenger escaped major injuries.
Credit…Federal Aviation Administration
The pilot, Raj Horan, who said he was conducting the flight for a friend, released about 350 gallons of water over a field in Turkey, Texas, a small city about 300 miles northwest of Dallas. As the pilot released the water, the plane began to stall before it crashed to the ground, according to documents from the National Transportation Safety Board.
A woman in Iowa was killed in an explosion.
In October 2019, a 56-year-old woman was killed when she was struck by flying debris from a device that was supposed to shoot plumes of smoke at a gender-reveal party in Knoxville, Iowa, about 40 miles southeast of Des Moines.
A malfunction caused the device to operate more like a pipe bomb, the authorities said, sending projectiles flying more than 150 yards.
The woman’s family had planned to reveal the baby’s gender by using “explosive material,” the authorities said, and hoped to record footage to post on social media. The device they constructed included tape wrapped over the top of metal tubing that contained gunpowder, a piece of wood and colored powder, with a hole drilled in the side of the device for a fuse.
The woman died instantly after a metal piece from the device struck her in the head, the authorities said.”
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