Father in gender-reveal that sparked fatal 2020 California wildfire has pleaded guilty
SAN BERNARDINO, California — A man whose family’s gender reveal ceremony sparked a Southern California wildfire that killed a firefighter in 2020, has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
According to a report from The Associated Press, the El Dorado Fire erupted on September 5, 2020, when Refugio Manuel Jimenez Jr and Angelina Jimenez and their young children staged a baby gender reveal at El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa.
AP News said a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device was set off in a field and quickly ignited the dry grass. The couple reportedly tried to use bottled water to douse the flames before calling 911.
Charles Morton, the 39-year-old leader of the elite Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Squad, was killed on September 17, 2020, when flames overran a remote area where firefighters were cutting fire breaks.
On Friday, the San Bernardino County district attorney announced that Refugio Manuel Jimenez Jr had pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure. He will be taken into custody on February 23 to serve a year in jail.
His sentence also includes two years of felony probation and 200 hours of community service, according to AP News. His wife, Angelina Jimenez pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of recklessly causing fire to property of another. She was sentenced to a year of summary probation and 400 hours of community service.
The couple was also ordered to pay $1,789,972 in restitution.
The blaze injured 13 other people and forced the evacuations of hundreds of residents in small communities in the San Bernardino National Forest area. It destroyed five homes and 15 other buildings.