Since early September, the USA has had massive wildfires. With more than 20 wildfires in two weeks, the state of California is now in a state of emergency. These wildfires, like Creek Fire, August Complex fire and many more, have made this the worst year in history regarding the amount of damaged land. Even though these fires are all catastrophic, one specific case has caught the attention of many people: the El Dorado Fire.
The El Dorado Fire started on September 7 in El Dorado Ranch Park when an expecting couple threw a gender reveal party with a pyrotechnic smoke bomb on one of the hottest days of summer. The family tried extinguishing the fire that had ignited in the four-foot-tall, dry wild grass with water bottles but failed to do so. The resulting fire led to 21,000 people evacuating the area. “Why would you go out there and think that you can light off any kind of firework?” asked resident Patrick Patterson.
On top of it all, this isn’t the first time gender reveal parties have caused such disasters. In 2018, a gender reveal party caused a 47,000-acre wildfire, and last year two other parties caused disastrous events, one killing the family’s grandmother when she was struck with shrapnel after the family unintentionally created a pipe bomb. “When I first saw that a gender-reveal party had caused a forest fire I cried because I felt responsible,” said the populariser of gender-reveal parties, Jenna Myers Karvunidis.
In conclusion, American wildfires have been catastrophic this month, leading California to a state of emergency. On top of that, the trendy gender reveal parties clearly have hazardous consequences that have happened several times. We all need to learn about this to avoid making the same mistakes. Nevertheless, we should wish the best for the USA while they’re in their wildfire months.
Nicole
Bibliography:
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). “Incidents Overview.” Organisation Image, Cal Fire,
“2020 North American Wildfire Season.” Disasterphilanthropy.org, Charity Navigator, 17 Sept. 2020
Shepherd, Katie. “A Gender-Reveal Stunt Sparked a California Wildfire That Has Forced 21,000 People to Evacuate.”The Washington Post, WP Company, 8 Sept. 2020,