As ridiculous as it might sound, the fire currently burning near Oak Glen in San Bernardino County supposedly ignited after a "smoke-generating pyrotechnic device" exploded, setting ablaze the dry brush all around it.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as CAL FIRE, tweeted that the incident occurred around 10:23am on Sept. 5 in El Dorado Ranch Park, located 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," the tweet added.
CAL FIRE issued a subsequent reminder that the public needs to be extra careful in the dry conditions and "critical weather" to avoid setting off sparks that could lead to a catastrophe.
"Those responsible for starting fires due to negligence or illegal activity can be held financially and criminally responsible," the group added, noting that "it doesn't take much to start a wildfire."
Not long after this fire ignited, many others occurred all throughout California, including in the San Francisco Bay Area where the sky turned various hues of dark orange and red, almost like an apocalypse.
Smoke and ash from these fires, which have since spread up into Oregon and even Washington, are now blanketing much of the West Coast, which has yet to even reach peak wildfire season.
"Videos show various scenes of the city cloaked in a red filter created by smoke particles in the atmosphere, which scatter blue light, and only allow yellow, orange, and red parts of the spectrum to reach the surface," reported National File.
Dear parents: Stop setting off pyrotechnics to reveal your baby's gender
Interestingly, a similar fire caused by a gender reveal party occurred back in 2017 in Arizona, where pyrotechnics of blue were shot off to reveal that the baby of Dennis Dickey was going to be a boy.
Known as the Sawmill Fire, this blaze ended up consuming some 47,000 acres of federal land after it quickly spread to extremely dry nearby grass. Dickey reported the fire to police and cooperated with authorities, only to later receive a bill for $300,000 in damages and five years of probation.
"Gender reveal parties are a modern trend, popularized through social media, where expecting parents inform friends and relatives of the gender of their unborn child through innovative means, some apparently featuring explosives and pyrotechnics," reports National File.
Another culprit in all this appears to be former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who back in 2016 vetoed a bill that would have helped to minimize the spread of wildfires by mitigating the risks present in and around utility equipment.
While this latest pyrotechnics-induced fire in Southern California may not have been started by mismanaged utility equipment, others around the state are more than likely much worse than they need to be due to aging utility equipment, not to mention poor forest management practices.
Known as Senate Bill 1463, the bill that Brown vetoed would have mandated that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) work directly with utility companies to move power lines underground if necessary, as well as engage other mitigatory measures.
"Setting off pyrotechnics in the People's Republic of Kalifornia during its worst drought in history is proof that people are dumber than average," wrote one National File commenter.
"But, but the governor explained that climate change is responsible for the fires and poor air quality," joked another.
For more of the latest news about the West Coast wildfires, be sure to check out Collapse.news.
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