California Couple Charged in Deadly Wildfire Sparked by Gender Reveal

A California couple has been charged in connection to the deadly El Dorado Fire that ravaged the region for weeks.

According to CBS affiliate KCAL 9, defendants Refugio Manuel Jimenez Jr. and Angela Renee Jimenez are accused of sparking the fire after setting off a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device for their gender reveal party. The blaze began on Sept. 5, 2020, at the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa. Authorities say the Jimenez family staged the gender reveal during dry and hot conditions at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains. During the event, the aforementioned smoke bomb reportedly malfunctioned and caused the ground to catch fire.

“They lit that device. It produced smoke, which ignited the season grasses that was immediately adjacent,” CalFire Capt. Bennet Milloy said, as reported by KESQ. “That grass immediately spread across to Yucaipa Ridge and then eventually to Oak Glen,” CalFire Capt. Bennet Milloy said.

Within a 23-day period, the fire burned more than 22,000 acres in the Oak Glen and Yucaipa Ridge areas. Hundreds of residents were forced to evacuate their homes, dozens of structures were destroyed, about a dozen injuries were reported, and one firefighter, Charles Morton, was killed. The fire wasn’t completely extinguished until mid-November.