Effing idiots

A fire in California that has burned more than 7,000 acres was caused by a “pyrotechnic device used at a gender reveal party”, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has found.

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On Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles county, the temperature reached a record high of 121F (49 C), according to the US National Weather Service.

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In a statement released late on Sunday, the department said: “The fire began at 10:23 am on September 5, 2020 in the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa,” before spreading north.

The agency said the fire was caused by a smoke generating pyrotechnic device, used during “a gender reveal party”. The fire started on Saturday morning.

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The fire has since destroyed 7,050 acres. It has prompted the evacuation of 3,000 residents, CBS reported.

  Guardian

It's not bad enough they won't stay home under pandemic guidelines while California firefighters are risking their lives every day battling a weather-related scourge. There should be criminal penalties.

In October 2019, a woman was killed when a home-made device that was meant to discharge coloured powder exploded at a gender reveal party in Iowa. And last year an airplane crash in Texas was also attributed to a gender reveal party, as a plan to dump 350 gallons of pink water went awry.

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In April 2017, an off-duty US border patrol agent, Dennis Dickey, caused $8m of damage to 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres) of Arizona forest when he shot at a target full of blue-coloured explosive as a means of announcing the gender of his unborn child.

Their babies will grow up with such pride.