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Updated June 10th, 2021 at 07:38 IST

Canada: Explosive device at gender-reveal party causes one-acre wildfire

An explosive device set off at a gender-reveal party sparked a wildfire in Canada and resulted in the expected parents being charged a $500 fine.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
Canada
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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An explosive device set off at a gender-reveal party sparked a wildfire in Canada and resulted in the expected parents being charged a $500 fine, authorities said. According to The Independent, the party, which took place in Alberta, Canada, was just a few miles from Fort McMurray Forest Area. The device was only supposed to release blue or pink powder to identify the baby’s sex when it was detonated, however, it caused an inferno, which grew to about an acre before it was extinguished. 

Travis Fairweather, an Alberta Wildfire spokesman, said the individuals responsible were fined $500. They could also be forced to pay the costs of fighting the fire. Fairweather said that while fireworks and exploding targets can be fun, they can also come with a hefty price tag if one inadvertently starts a wildfire. 

Gender reveal related accidents  

Further, Fairweather informed that under local forestry laws, permission is required to use fireworks or exploding targets. He said that the authorities were seeing enough of these exploding targets that required the officials to change the Forest Prairie Protection Act. He also went on to inform that the blaze marked the third wildfire this year caused by an exploding target, although he noted that not all of the cases have been linked to gender-reveal parties. 

Meanwhile, this is not the first time a gender-reveal announcement has had dangerous consequences. In September, a group of relatives set off a pyrotechnic device to reveal an unborn baby’s gender and caused a massive wildfire in El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, California. Back in February, a 28-year-old New York man was also killed when a device he was building for his baby’s gender reveal party exploded. In 2019, a soon-to-be grandmother had also died in Iowa when a gender-reveal device exploded and sent shrapnel flying. The same year, an aeroplane crashed in Texas as well after the pilot dubbed about 350 gallons of pink water. 

(Image: AP)
 

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Published June 10th, 2021 at 07:38 IST

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