Father in gender-reveal that sparked fatal 2020 California wildfire has pleaded guilty

Garrett Phillips
·1 min read

Related video: More than 200 airlifted to safety from California wildfire

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — A man whose family’s gender reveal photo shoot in 2020 sparked a Southern California wildfire that killed a firefighter has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors announced the guilty plea on Friday.

The El Dorado Fire erupted on Sept. 5, 2020, when Refugio Jimenez Jr. and Angelina Jimenez and their young children staged a baby gender reveal at El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Charles Morton, the leader of the elite Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Squad, was killed days later.

An attorney for Refugio Jimenez Jr. says the couple has wanted to speak publicly about the fire but cannot because of the ongoing federal litigation.

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