Over 500 workers have been deployed to tackle the blaze.
A gender reveal party has triggered a wildfire spanning 7,000 in California.
Hosts of the party used a “smoke generating pyrotechnic device” to announce the gender of their unborn baby on Saturday in El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa.
According to Cal Fire, the device caused a fire which has since spread across the park and into the north and surrounding area. As of Monday morning, the fire has spread to over 7,050 acres.
“Cal Fire Law Enforcement has determined the El Dorado Fire, burning near Oak Glen in San Bernardino County, was caused by a smoke generating pyrotechnic device, used during a gender reveal party,” they said in a statement.
“The fire began at 10:23 am on September 5, 2020 in the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa.
“The fire spread from the park to the north on to Yucaipa Ridge that separates Mountain Home Village and Forest Falls from the City of Yucaipa.”
Over 500 personnel have been deployed to tackle the blaze, alongside 60 fire engines and four helicopters.
Evacuations are currently underway in the areas surrounding the park. Many residents are using the local community centre as a temporary evacuation facility.
This comes one year after an explosive device at a gender reveal party led to the death of an attendee.
A 56-year-old woman was killed at a party in Iowa last year after a homemade gender reveal device exploded like a pipe bomb.
The device had been built by the family with the intention of sending either pink or blue gunpowder into the air, indicating the gender of the unborn baby.
It instead exploded and killed one person.
