This Couple Is Being Charged After Their Gender Reveal Party Caused A Wildfire That Killed One Firefighter And Destroyed Over 22,000 Acres
Yucaipa, California. Angelina Renee Jimenez and Refugio Manuel Jimenez, Jr. are a married couple living in San Bernadino County.
After they learned they were pregnant, they decided to throw a gender reveal party for their baby on September 5th of last year. Angelina and Refugio gathered along with their loved ones in El Dorado Park, to share the news of whether their baby was going to be a boy or a girl.
What should have turned out to be a happy occasion caused more devastation than anyone at that party ever could have realized.
“Mr. and Mrs. Jimenez used a smoke bomb to reveal the gender of their pregnancy at the El Dorado Park in the City of Yucaipa, California, which sparked a brush fire that in turn became known as the El Dorado Fire,” the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office explained in a press release.
The fire ended up lasting over 20 days and it left a path of destruction and devastation across more than 22,000 acres.
“The El Dorado fire burned through 22k acres, resulting in the death of US. Forest Service Wildland Firefighter Charles Morton, injured two additional firefighters, loss or damage of residential buildings, and displaced several local communities and residents across San Bernardino and Riverside counties,” the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office continued.
On a GoFundMe page created to help cover the funeral costs for Charles Morton’s family, he was described as a “selfless man” who “gave so much to his family, friends, and community.”
GoFundMe; pictured above is Charles, the firefighter who lost his life in the El Dorado fire
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Refugio and Angelina have recently been charged with one felony count of involuntary manslaughter (for the death of Charles), twenty-two misdemeanor counts of recklessly causing a fire to property of another, four felony counts of recklessly causing a fire to inhabited structures, and three felony counts of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury.
They both have pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against them and will be back in court on September 15th.
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