SAN GORGONIO PASS AREA, CA — Three companies have agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from the massive El Dorado Fire that burned nearly 23,000 acres, destroyed homes, and killed a firefighter in the Inland Empire, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
The fire was ignited at 10:23 a.m. Sept. 5, 2020, by a pyrotechnic device launched by expectant parents at their gender-reveal party in Yucaipa's El Dorado Ranch Park.
The blaze quickly spread to the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area of the San Bernardino National Forest, burning for more than 70 days in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Wholesale Fireworks Corp., a Hubbard, Ohio-based company, and its Hudson, Ohio-based subsidiary, American Fireworks Wholesale LLC, agreed to pay $4 million to settle claims brought on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service. A third defendant, Florida-based Pink or Blue Gender Team Inc., agreed to pay $50,000 to settle claims related to the fire, according to the DOJ's announcement on Tuesday.
The settlements come more than two years after criminal convictions linked to the fire. On Feb. 9, 2024, the couple that hosted the fateful gender-reveal party — Angela Renee Jimenez and Refugio Manuel Jimenez Jr. — were convicted on multiple counts, including an involuntary manslaughter charge against Refugio.
On Sept. 17, 2020, as the El Dorado Fire raged, 39-year-old Charles "Charlie" Morton was fatally burned while battling the inferno. He worked for the San Bernardino National Forest as a Big Bear Hotshots squad leader.
Morton was survived by his fiancée, daughter, parents, two brothers, cousins, friends, and Big Bear Hotshots.
In September 2023, the DOJ sued the pyrotechnic companies to recover USFS costs for fighting the fire and the damage it caused to federal land.
In addition to a lost life and thousands of acres burned, the El Dorado Fire damaged or destroyed nine structures and 15 outbuildings.
The DOJ alleged that the companies were liable because the fire was caused by a gender-reveal smoke bomb that Wholesale and AFW designed, imported, distributed, marketed, and advertised, and that Pink or Blue distributed, marketed, and advertised.
The smoke bomb that the Jimenezes set off quickly ignited dry vegetation. According to federal prosecutors, the companies failed to properly warn customers about the fire risk, despite being aware of the dangers.
The smoke bombs should never have been sold in California, where they are illegal, prosecutors said.
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