The expectant couple, along with several children and loved ones, walked with anticipation into the grass at the edge of the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, California – where wild grasses turn golden in the fall, making a scenic backdrop – to reveal their baby’s gender.
Another person lit a pyrotechnic device that generates an explosion of smoke in the color of blue for a boy or pink for a girl, as seen in surveillance video. But what was meant to be a celebratory moment went terribly wrong just moments later when a fire was ignited, and the family frantically grabbed water bottles to put out the growing flames.
That fire continued for over two months until November 2020, scorching nearly 23,000 acres and killing one beloved firefighter who was battling the blaze. The couple pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with causing the fire and the death of firefighter Charles Morton, prosecutors said in 2024.
The couple aren’t the only ones facing consequences. The saga concluded last week when three companies involved in designing, importing and marketing the smoke bomb agreed to settle a federal lawsuit filed by the government in 2023. They agreed to pay more than $4 million for US Forest Service costs for fighting the fire and the damage it caused to federal land.
