Gender reveals have definitely become a trend throughout the past few years. However, one gender reveal party that took place last year in Arizona led to a massive wildfire and now a hefty fine.
According to Newsweek, Dennis Dickey, an Arizona border patrol agent, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor federal charge of “causing a fire without a permit” on Friday. He is now set to be on probation for the next five years, and he also has to pay a fine of $220,000 in installments.
In April of 2017, Dickey and his wife were hosting a gender reveal party. He was in charge of revealing the gender by shooting a “high-velocity firearm” at a target that was intended to explode with either pink or blue powder. However, the target contained the explosive substance, Tannerite. Instead of revealing the gender, the fire immediately caught in the dry conditions and started to quickly spread.
The fire required around 800 firefighters, and forced hundreds of people from their homes and burned more than 45,000 acres of land. The cost of fighting the fire reportedly cost more than $8 million.
Forest Service Special Agent Brent Robinson wrote in the September affidavit, “Dickey immediately reported the fire to law enforcement, cooperated, and admitted that he started the fire.
The affidavit also mentioned that the target that was shot at the party contained Tannerite, which is legal, but also an explosive compound that has been linked to many major wildfires.
Dickey will now pay an up-front restitution fine of $100,000 during his sentencing on October 9th and he’ll pay the remaining balance in monthly installments of $500 over the course of a few years.
Roommates, what are your thoughts?
