A couple whose gender reveal party in Southern California triggered a wildfire that killed a firefighter last September has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson announced Tuesday.
Driving the news: A smoke-generating pyrotechnic device from the party sparked the El Dorado Fire in which 39-year-old firefighter Charles Morton died. Another 13 people were wounded. The blaze razed 22,680 acres and forced the evacuations of hundreds of people in the area.
Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free
Anderson said at a news conference that the couple, whom he identified as the Jiminez family, had pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges related to the fire, but the indictment was unsealed Tuesday.
These included the felony offenses of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury and recklessly causing a fire to inhabited structures, along with misdemeanor counts of recklessly causing fire to property.
Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.
TWiThead on July 22nd, 2021 at 11:24 UTC »
How many times does this sort of tragedy need to occur?
How much death and destruction will it take to convince the self-important morons to stop using pyrotechnics and explosive projectiles to announce their future offspring's genitals?
ellieD on July 22nd, 2021 at 09:23 UTC »
Do you think they will go to jail?
Halaster on July 22nd, 2021 at 03:58 UTC »
Assuming they are found guilty their current life is over, where as PG&E had 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter 3 years ago and had to pay a maximum fine of $3.5 million for its crimes in addition to $500,000 for the cost of the investigation, which was a drop in the bucket that the just passed on to the customers.
PG&E should have penalties as devastating as they are for individuals who are charged, and they should not be allowed to just raise rates to cover them.