Off-duty Border Patrol agent accidentally starts major wildfire during baby's gender reveal party

A fire truck.
(Image credit: iStockphoto)

It's a ... $220,000 fine and five years probation!

As if paying for diapers and formula isn't enough, an Arizona father now has to pay hundreds of thousands in restitution after he accidentally started a fire during a party held to reveal the sex of his unborn baby. In April 2017, on a day when winds in the Tucson area were gusting at 40 mph, Dennis Dickey shot a "high-velocity firearm" at a target containing an explosive substance called Tannerite. Dickey shot the target because it contained powder that was going to explode blue if his wife was having a boy or pink if she was having a girl, Dickey's attorney, Sean Chapman, told the Arizona Daily Star.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.