What began as one of the most exciting moments of their lives has ended in eight felony charges and the chance of several years in prison.
Refugio Manuel Jimenez and his wife Angela Renee Jimenez were charged this week for involuntary manslaughter and arson after their gender reveal party last year sparked a deadly wildfire that resulted in the death of a firefighter.
The couple accidentally sent the El Dorado, California, region into flames when they set off a color-coordinated smoke bomb that malfunctioned. The fire began Sept. 6 and was not extinguished until Nov. 16. Over two months, it burned 22,000 acres of land, killing firefighter Charlie Morton and injuring 13 others.
“Obviously, he wouldn’t have been out there if this hadn’t started in the first place,” San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said of Morton, who was only 39 years old. “He’s fighting a fire that was started because of a smoke bomb. That’s the only reason he’s there.”
Very few gender reveal parties become as deadly as the Jimenezes’. But for some reason, dangerous mishaps have become far too common at these events as parents and other family members attempt extravagant stunts.
A few months ago, a couple watched as two of their family members plunged into the ocean to their deaths in a small plane, flying an “It’s a Girl!” banner. The year before, an Iowa woman was killed after being hit in the head by a piece of metal that had exploded after a family inadvertently created a pipe bomb for the gender reveal announcement.
This alarming uptick in gender reveal accidents even prompted Jenna Karvunidis, the so-called “inventor” of gender reveal parties, to urge people to stop.
“Excuse me for having a cake for my family in 2008,” Karvunidis wrote last year. “Just because I’m the gEnDeR rEvEaL iNVeNtoR doesn’t mean I think people should burn down their communities. STOP.”
Indeed, what happened to that quaint, traditional cake-and-balloons setup? All that’s missing from it is a handheld confetti cannon, and you have yourself a world-class gender reveal party that won’t leave you facing 20 years in jail.
