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Video shows moment wildfire was started at gender reveal party

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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.

The authorities said the El Dorado fire near Yucaipa, Calif., started as the result of a gender-reveal party. Credit... Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated Press

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. Itwas66 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, as extreme heat roasted much of the state during Labor Day weekend.

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.

"I can't speak on their behalf," Captain Milloy said of the family on Sept. 7, "but personally, I can only imagine how terrible they have to feel for a lot of reasons."
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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.

While these celebrations started out as intimate events, the rise of social media has turned some gender-reveal parties into spectacles, said Carly Gieseler, an associate professor at York College of the City University of New York and the author of "Gender-Reveal Parties as Mediated Events: Celebrating Identity in Pink and Blue."

"As long as we have something like social media where a gender-reveal party is so visible - it's all about the visual cues and all this performative aspect - you're going to continue seeing that," Dr. Gieseler said. "It's a sense of connection, but it's also a sense of that kind of competitive spectacle."

Jenna Karvunidis has been credited with creating the gender-reveal party by hosting one for her firstborn in 2008 and sharing it on her blog, High Gloss and Sauce.

Ms. Karvunidis, who lives in California, said in a telephone interview on Sept. 7 that she had ash on her house from another wildfire that was burning in the Angeles National Forest northeast of Los Angeles. "Could we just stop having these stupid parties and then the problem would solve itself?" she wrote on Twitter on Sept. 7. "Thanks."

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.

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.

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.

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A crop-dusting plane stalled and crashed near Turkey, Texas, in September 2019 after it dumped 350 gallons of pink water as part of a gender-reveal celebration. 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.

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.

Daniel Victor contributed reporting.

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A Gender-Reveal Celebration Is Blamed for a Wildfire. It Isn't the First Time.

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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.

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Climate change has been a key factor in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the Western United States. Wildfire risk depends on a number of factors, including temperature, soil moisture, and the presence of trees, shrubs, and other potential fuel. All these factors have strong direct or indirect ties to climate variability and climate change. Climate change enhances the drying of organic matter in forests (the material that burns and spreads wildfire), and has doubled the number of large fires between 1984 and 2015 in the western United States.

Research shows that changes in climate create warmer, drier conditions. Increased drought, and a longer fire season are boosting these increases in wildfire risk. For much of the U.S. West, projections show that an average annual 1 degree C temperature increase would increase the median burned area per year as much as 600 percent in some types of forests. In the Southeastern United States modeling suggests increased fire risk and a longer fire season, with at least a 30 percent increase from 2011 in the area burned by lightning-ignited wildfire by 2060.

Once a fire starts-more than 80 percent of U.S. wildfires are caused by people-warmer temperatures and drier conditions can help fires spread and make them harder to put out. Warmer, drier conditions also contribute to the spread of the mountain pine beetle and other insects that can weaken or kill trees, building up the fuels in a forest.

Land use and forest management also affect wildfire risk. Changes in climate add to these factors and are expected to continue to increase the area affected by wildfires in the United States.

Trends in the annual number of large fires in the western United States

Since 2000, 15 forest fires in the United States have caused at least $1 billion in damages each, mainly from the loss of homes and infrastructure, along with firefighting costs. The 2017 wildfire season was well above average, with deadly fires in California and throughout the West, including Montana, Oregon, and Washington state. The 2018 wildfire season went on to also break records as the deadliest and most destructive season on record in California. NOAA estimates the total costs of wildfires in 2017 and 2018 to be more than $40 billion. In 2019, wildfires caused an estimated $4.5 billion in damages in California and Alaska. Alaska's record-breaking heat and dry conditions over the summer months set the conditions for the state's historic wildfire season. In 2020, five of the six largest fires on record burned in California and Oregon saw historic levels of wildfire spread and damage. Wildfires across the West led to weeks-long periods of unhealthy air quality levels for millions of people.

Wildfire can affect:

Federal and State Budgets: U.S. Forest Service fire suppression expenditures had increased from about 15 percent of the agency's appropriated budget to more than 50 percent in 2017. Nationwide suppression costs in 2017 and 2018 ballooned to $2.9 billion and $3.1 billion respectively, while state wildfire expenditures have also increased substantially.

Public Health: The growing number of people in wild lands is increasing the risk to life, property and public health. Smoke reduces air quality and can cause eye and respiratory illness, especially among children and the elderly. Wildfires that burn in residential areas can melt plastic water pipes and cause contamination of water systems with a known carcinogen.

Natural Environment: Wildfires are a natural part of many ecosystems. Although wildfires produce a number of greenhouse gases and aerosols including carbon dioxide, methane, and black carbon, the plants that re-colonize burned areas remove carbon from the atmosphere, generally leading to a net neutral effect on climate. However, when fires burn more frequently and consume larger areas, as they are doing with climate change, the released greenhouse gases may not be completely removed from the atmosphere if plants can't grow to maturity before burning, or if the plants that re-colonize are less efficient at carbon uptake.

How to Build Resilience

Communities, builders, homeowners, and forest managers can reduce the likelihood and impacts of wildfires by:

Discouraging developments (especially residential) near fire-prone forests through smart zoning rules.

Increasing the space between structures and nearby trees and brush, and clearing space between neighboring houses.

Incorporating fire-resistant design features and materials in buildings.

Increasing resources allocated to firefighting and fire prevention.

Removing fuels, such as dead trees, from forests that are at risk.

Developing recovery plans before a fire hits, and implementing plans quickly after a fire to reduce erosion, limit flooding, and minimize habitat damage.

The Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation portal helps communities understand and plan for their climate risks today and in the future, including a real-time map of wildfire, drought, flooding, and extreme heat across the United States.

For more details on wildfire resilience, read our report, Resilience Strategies for Wildfire.
Learn more about resilience by visiting our Climate Resilience Portal.

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Modeling suggests increased fire risk and a longer fire season, with at least a 30 percent increase from 2011 in the area burned by lightning-ignited wildfire by 2060.

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Climate change increases the risk of wildfires significantly if other conditions are met such as temperature, and soil moisture. Humans impact the climate through the rapid release of greenhouse gasses.  To combat wildfires and increase residence, stricter zoning rules have been put in place, fire-resistant materials are incorporated more into building design, and development of recovery plans

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The damage from the wildfires in California and Australia is irreparable. These tips on how to prevent future wildfires can make a big difference.

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The historic suppression of fire has resulted in a lack of periodic, natural fire in our forest. The absence of these low intensity fires has increased the risk of large fire events and has negatively impacted the health of our forests.

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This article is best suited for students from 10th to 11th grade. Sentences are a little longer, but have definitions or examples to aid in comprehension. The text also includes many hyperlinks to help people gather more information. There are a few vocabulary words students need to be exposed to before reading the text to understand the concepts discussed thoroughly such as, climate change/variability, greenhouse gasses, aerosols, carcinogens, expenditures and zoning.

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The article is written from a informational perspective that presents facts relating to the recent forest fires. The words used do not present a bias and it challenges students as it connects the concepts of wildfires and climate change and presents information to encourage further analysis. The article is also accessible to everyone and can be used in various formats, professional and casual settings.

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The text holds up well to the CRAPP test as the information was published and was recently reviewed. It is relevant and appropriate to the overall lesson plan/topic and is age-appropriate. Finally, because it is an informational text, diversity is not acknowledged as there is no mention of individual populations being impacted by wildfires.

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This is a video that was filmed by a border patrol officer at a gender reveal party, and is posted on the AFP News Agency Youtube channel.  It is approximately 30 seconds long, and is a recording of an explosive box being shot to reveal a blue powder, signifying a baby boy, but it quickly turned into havoc.  It ignited a wildfire that destroyed 19,000 hectares of land in 2017.

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This video does not have any spoken words, but it has written text at the bottom to supplement the video, but is not necessary for understanding, which scored within the high school age for readability, therefore it does fit within the range to give to students.  For any words that are complex, a simple Google search would clear any confusion.  The only vocabulary word that is crucial to understand is wildfire, which would fall into the tier 2 category for vocabulary.

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This offers the outlook on habitat alteration as something that can change quickly, compared to processes such as geological movement which alter habitats on a much larger time scale.  This challenges students to think about their everyday life, and hypothesize about how they may be affecting habitats in their everyday lives as well.  This text is something science teachers would be strongly motivated to use within the classroom because it provides an event that students can relate to, and teachers can refer back to this to anchor the new information they learn throughout the unit.

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This text is worthy of reading and viewing within the classroom because it is not too difficult of a text to read, and the words that students may be curious about would be discussed during later discussions and would not be out of context for their understanding.  This is good for all learners because it features a video and words to read for those that prefer to read the information.

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This is a news article posted by The New York Times, by two journalists who cover breaking news, and reports on a wildfire that was started by a gender-reveal party in late 2020.  This specific fire was started in El Dorado California, that burned over 20,000 acres.  It also references other instances of wildfires starting via gender reveal within the United States, and even instances of cars igniting fires within Australia.

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This text has a readability score around ninth grade, which would be a perfect text to include in a freshman or sophomore biology class.  Since it is a news article, this information is more geared toward an average audience who is not in a science classroom, so this is a fairly easy read to provide more support for human alteration of habitats as well as their impact on ecosystems via wildfires.  Most of the vocab is tier 2, which is still accessible for these students as they will continue to build upon common knowledge after this article.

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This is a different fire than the one included within the primary text, but it is a similar occurrence that is important to include to begin guiding the students thinking into how humans can affect habitats, even when on accident.  This text is not only accessible to the students but it could also be used in various contexts, especially classes that deal with helping the community, because it brings awareness to precautions of certain activities because they can have large consequences.

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This test passes the CRAPP test quite well, because it was a very relevant piece, and it was posted within a few days of the start of the fire, which is current information.  The New York Times is also a credible resource that the students are likely to interact with outside of the science classroom, so it is worthy of reading to allow them the ability to interact with the science information, but to improve their technological literacy to discern quality information and sources from those that are less satisfactory.  It is good for all learners because it features photos as well as written words that are at the ninth grade level to increase their understanding of the information.

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In this article by accuweather, they give suggestions on ways to prevent wildfires and safely dispose of things that can cause wildfires. It gave 7 ideas of ways to prevent fires that everyone can do as a community as well some ideas about how to prepare for a wildfire if you are in those areas. They describe how to store other chemicals that could potentially be harmful if caught in fire.

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The text is structured in a very informative way, it is easy to follow as well as they have the 7 steps clearly numbers and separated. The reading is also easy to read if only looking at the numbers. There are images to support some of the ideas. Readability score stated it was for grade 9, with a standard reading level, making it perfect for a freshman lesson, which is where biology or earth science would most likely be taught.

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This text challenges student to think about their actions and makes them critically think about these ideas when they are put in that situation. It shows the damage that can be done as well at looking at the other texts as support for the damage.

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It is worthy of reading. The information is reliable as well as informative and serves a good purpose. It is published by accuwether, where many people get their daily weather. They are very informative with science topics. I could say it caters to every reader because it is very unbiased as well as simply lists methods of prevention that everyone can use. At the end, it also provides links to other ways to survive natural disasters.

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This text focuses on controlled burning, what it is, and why it’s important. The text does not have a specific author mentioned but is found on the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service website. The article is an informational text.

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This text was scored at a 13th grade readability score. The words are organized in a heading and subtext format. The heading presents the topic that the paragraph below discusses. There are a few vocab terms that the students will need to be introduced to before they read the article. Those terms include decomposition and emissions.

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This text contributes the perspective of helpful information to the text set as a whole. This text challenges students to think about ways fire can be helpful in combating climate change. This text is authentic to what firefighters or park rangers might use in reducing the risk of wildland fires. This is known because the article mentions the fact that the Daniel Boone National Forest uses the method described in this text to reduce the risk of wildland fires. This article is accessible to everyone, including students. This article is motivating because it offers a possible solution professionals can use to reduce wildland fires and their impacts on the surrounding environment.

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This text is worthy of reading. This text is also credible. This text values the voices of those who protect the National Forests. The text is accurate and informative. The information is neatly organized within subheaders.

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Standard: HS-LS2-7: Design, evaluate and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to assess and revise current fire prevention methods regarding climate change.

Students will make a hypothesis for the effect of wildfires on climate change.

Essential Questions:

How can humans have an impact on the environment?

What are ways in which humans can reduce their impact on the environment?