An Ohio-based smoke bomb designer/importer and two other companies have agreed to pay more than $4 million to the United States for costs and damages from the El Dorado Fire of 2020, which was ignited when one of the Ohio company’s smoke bombs created flames when it was used as the culmination of a gender reveal party. The flames spread into what was a nearly 23,000-acre conflagration, which resulted in the death of a firefighter.
Wholesale Fireworks Corporation, which is located in Hubbard, Ohio, and its subsidiary, American Fireworks Wholesale LLC, agreed to pay $4 million to settle claims brought on behalf of the United States Forest Service.
A third defendant, Pink or Blue Gender Team Incorporated, a Florida-based company, has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle claims related to the fire.
The fire was ignited on September 5, 2020, by a pyrotechnic device manufactured by Wholesale Fireworks and altered by Pink or Blue Gender Team at a gender reveal party thrown by Refugio Manuel Jimenez, Jr. and Angelina Renee Jimenez in El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa. The flames from the device lit dry grass surrounding it, whereupon the couple, party attendees and bystanders sought to douse the flames with bottled water and called 911. The intense heat, the parched condition of nearby vegetation and winds caused the fire to quickly spread and move onto the mountainside, where the inaccessibility of the terrain in the fire’s path resulted in the fire raging out of control. The fire migrated into the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area of the San Bernardino National Forest, burning a total of 22,744 acres, damaging or destroying nine structures and 15 outbuildings, and killing firefighter Charles Morton. It burned for more than two months before it was fully eradicated.
The Jimenezes were criminally charged in 2021 with 30 felony counts involving 22 victims, extending to people who were injured or whose property was destroyed in the fire, charges which conceivably could have netted them a maximum of nearly two decades in prison upon conviction on all counts. In February 2024, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office arrived at a deal with the couple in which Refugio pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure. He was was sentenced to two years felony probation, 365 days in county jail and 200 hours of community service. Angelina pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts for recklessly causing fire to property of another. She was sentenced to one year summary probation, and 400 hours of community service. Together, they were ordered to pay victims’ restitution of $1,789,972.
Prior to those pleas being entered, in September 2023, the United States sued the three corporate defendants to recover Forest Service costs for fighting the fire and the damage it caused to federal land.
The United States alleged that Wholesale Fireworks Corporation, American Fireworks and Pink or Blue were liable because the fire was caused by a smoke bomb they designed, imported, distributed, marketed, and advertised which ignited the dry vegetation.
“The defendants further allegedly failed to safely design and label the smoke bombs and failed to properly warn customers about the fire risk of the smoke bombs, despite being aware of their dangers,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “These smoke bombs should never have been sold into California, where they are illegal.”
Assistant United States Attorneys Yujin Chun and Katherine Hikida of the Civil Division handled this matter. Despite the settlement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated the resolution of the matter with the $4.05 million payout, the assertions in the lawsuits against the three companies, “are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.”
-Mark Gutglueck