Couple whose gender reveal party sparked California fire charged with involuntary manslaughter

A memorial for Charles Morton, who died fighting the El Dorado Fire.
(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A Southern California husband and wife who used a pyrotechnic device during a gender reveal party last September, sparking the El Dorado Fire that killed a firefighter, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, authorities said Tuesday.

Refugio Manuel Jimenez Jr. and Angela Renee Jimenez pleaded not guilty on Monday to one felony count of involuntary manslaughter and felony and misdemeanor counts related to the fire, The Associated Press reports. They were released on their own recognizance.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
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.