A Latino man who participated in the gender reveal photo shoot organized by his family that caused a Southern California wildfire that killed a firefighter in 2020 has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors said Friday. .
The El Dorado fire broke out on September 5, 2020, when Refugio Jiménez Jr., Angelina Jiménez and their children hosted a photo shoot to reveal the sex of their baby at El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, in the San Bernardino Mountains .
Firefighters arrive to attend a memorial for Charles Morton, a U.S. Forest Service firefighter who died in the line of duty on Sept. 17 in the El Dorado fire, Sept. 25, 2020.Terry Pierson/AP Photo
A smoke-generating pyrotechnic device was activated in a field and quickly ignited the dry grass on that day of intense sunshine.
Although the couple frantically tried to put out the flames with bottled water, in the end they had to call 911 to report the fire, authorities explained.
Strong winds fanned the fire as it spread across pristine national forest lands, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles.
Charles Morton, 39, leader of the elite Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Squad, died Sept. 17 when flames engulfed a remote area where firefighters were trying to contain the blaze.
Morton had worked as a firefighter for 18 years, most with the U.S. Forest Service.
On Friday, the San Bernardino County District Attorney announced that Refugio Jimenez Jr. had pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of recklessly causing a fire in an inhabited structure.
He will enter prison on February 23 to serve 12 months in prison.
His sentence also includes two years of felony probation and 200 hours of community service.
Angelina Jiménez pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of reckless arson of someone else's property.
She was sentenced to one year of probation and 400 hours of community service.
The couple was also ordered to pay $1,789,972 in restitution.
“Solving the case was never going to be a victory,” District Attorney Jason Anderson said in a news release, offering his condolences to Morton's family.
“For the victims who lost so much, including their homes with valuables and memories, we understand that those are intangible and can never be replaced.”
The Forest Service filed a lawsuit in September — on the third anniversary of the fire — against the manufacturers, distributors and sellers of the fireworks, as well as the couple.
The complaint alleges that the smoke bombs used were illegal in California and were known to be defective.
[Deaths from wildfires in Hawaii rise to 101, governor says]
Mike Scafiddi, Refugio Jiménez Jr.'s attorney, said the couple has wanted to speak publicly about the fire, its impact on the community and Morton's death, but cannot due to ongoing federal litigation.
“They have been praying for Morton and his family every night since his death,” Scafiddi added to The Associated Press on Sunday, “it has affected them deeply.”
The lawyer indicated that his client had investigated and tested the pyrotechnic device before detonating it that day, without finding any problems.
“It was unpredictable for everyone,” he said.
Scafiddi indicated that, contrary to what had been said publicly for years, the couple had not organized a party to reveal the sex of the baby.
She assured that it was a photo session to discover the sex of the baby with the couple, some relatives and their children.
“To infer that this was a gathering of several people with food and celebration is simply incorrect,” he said, “it was simply a matter of taking photographs against what was a beautiful backdrop.”
A lawyer for Angelina Jiménez did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
The fire injured 13 other people and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents of small communities in the San Bernardino National Forest area.
Destroyed 20 buildings.
Flames destroyed nearly 36 square miles of land in San Bernardino and Riverside counties before the flames were contained on November 16, 2020.
The fire was one of thousands during an unprecedented wildfire season in California, which burned more than 4% of the state, destroyed nearly 10,500 buildings and killed 33 people.
Extremely dry conditions and heat waves linked to the climate crisis have made fighting wildfires difficult.
Climate change has made the West much hotter and drier over the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.