The wildfire in the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa is determined to have been started at a gender reveal party. Is the family involved could be held liable?

California Wildfire
Reutersconnect

A smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used at a gender reveal party was determined to have been the source of wildfire in the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa on Sept. 5 at around 10:23 a.m. The fire spread from the park to the north onto the Yucaipa Ridge.

According to a published report in the Daily Mail, Bennett Milloy, a spokesperson for California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the couple who did the gender reveal party that triggered the wildfire will be held liable.

He noted that the entire bill for the destruction could cost millions. They will also face different criminal charges, which could be more severe depending on destroyed homes.

Milloy said the family could be charged with violations of public resources codes and even arson under California's penal code section 452.

The family members' names have yet to be disclosed, and their identities will only be released once the charges against them are pressed.

The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection did not immediately comment on the charges. It is not yet known if the couple or the family involved in the wildfire are local residents.

However, Milloy clarified that whether they are local residents or not, they will still be held liable in the wildfire, which is expected to cost them millions of dollars and nine years of imprisonment.

According to Milloy, the family genuinely believed that it was an accident, but they also know the situation's gravity. Milloy said they were also sure about who and what started the wildfire because the family was still there on the scene when the firefighters arrived.

Meanwhile, the El Dorado wildfire has burned over 7,000 acres as of Monday evening, and only around seven percent is being contained, according to the California Fire Department.

The heatwave in the state is what makes it difficult for the firefighters to contain the wildfire.

The White House approved the state's request for a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration last month to bolster the state's emergency response to wildfires burning across the state.

The declaration will give funding in the affected areas and individuals who have suffered financial losses due to the wildfires. The state also included in their 2020 budget an amount of $85.6 million funding for permanent firefighting positions and for technology to help Cal Fire "model fire behavior."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, on the other hand, offers Fire Management Assistance Grants.

Since this year began, around two million acres of land have been burned and setting a state record. This massive wildfire has led power outages in different counties, and millions of Californians continue to be affected.

According to the record of the California Fire Department, the previous high was 1.96 million acres.

Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff said: "It's a little unnerving because September and October are historically our worst months for fires. It's usually hot, and the fuels really dry out. And we see more of our wind events."