Jul 20, 2021 - Energy & Climate

Couple charged for gender reveal party that sparked fatal California fire

Rebecca Falconer

A firefighter helps to set bck fires as the El dorado Fire approaches in Tucaipa, California, in September. — A firefighter helps to set back flames as the El Dorado Fire approaches in Tucaipa, California, in September 2020. Photo: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

A couple whose gender reveal party in Southern California triggered a wildfire that killed a firefighter last September has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson announced Tuesday.

Driving the news: A smoke-generating pyrotechnic device from the party sparked the El Dorado Fire in which 39-year-old firefighter Charles Morton died. Another 13 people were wounded. The blaze razed 22,680 acres and forced the evacuations of hundreds of people in the area.

Anderson said at a news conference that the couple, whom he identified as the Jiminez family, had pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges related to the fire, but the indictment was unsealed Tuesday.
These included the felony offenses of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury and recklessly causing a fire to inhabited structures, along with misdemeanor counts of recklessly causing fire to property.

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Couple charged for gender reveal party that sparked fatal California fire

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