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Gender Reveal Party Explosive Causes Wildfire In Canada

Gender Reveal Party Explosive Causes Wildfire In Canada

This isn't the first gender reveal wildfire in North America recently

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A CA$600 (£350) fine has been handed down after a couple set off an explosive device as part of a gender reveal party and set fire to the Canadian countryside.

Weirdly, this isn't even the first time that someone has done this. Mercifully this fire didn't cause too much damage, but it did get up to the size of a football field, according to Edmonton CityNews.

The fire was started about 10 kilometres outside of Fort McMurray in Alberta, and it got going because a couple wanted to show off which gender of baby they were having.

However, instead of just releasing a load of blue or pink smoke, it caught fire.

Not the smartest thing that has ever been done, let's be honest.

Stock image of gender reveal.
Shutterstock/Britt Clark Photography

It took 10 wildland firefighters working alongside the local firefighting crews to tackle the inferno, which is just one of many fires that have started in rural parts of Canada that are human-caused.

The area is no stranger to the occasional wildfire, but the growing number of human-caused fires is alarming.

In that part of the world a permit is required before any fireworks or explosives of all varieties can be used.

Travis Fairweather, a wildfire information officer, said: "Fireworks and exploding targets - they can be fun, but they can also come with a hefty price tag if you end up inadvertently starting a wildfire."

The people responsible can also be forced to pay for the cost of fighting the fire, Fairweather added.

Alberta changed the rules in 2017 to require the permit for explosives and introduce the fines.

Fairweather explained: "We were seeing enough of these exploding targets that it did require us to change the Forest Prairie Protection Act."

PA

This is the third fire so far this year caused by an exploding target such as this one. Whilst not all of them are gender reveal parties, they are certainly avoidable.

Over the past five years, 68 percent of fires have been caused by humans, with 88 percent in 2020.

So far this year, 76 percent of the fires that have started in the area were caused by humans.

It's not great reading.

Across North America there have been several instances of gender reveal parties being responsible for the blazes.

A huge fire in Los Angeles started after one such reveal last year. Known as the 'El Dorado' fire, a firefighter died whilst attending the incident.

The 'El Dorado' fire in Los Angeles last year.
PA

Even the woman thought to be responsible for these sorts of parties is against the idea nowadays.

Jenna Myers Karvunidis tweeted: "Could we just stop having these stupid parties and then the problem would solve itself."

That would help, for sure.

Featured Image Credit: Pexels

Topics: Fire, Weird, Canada