Baby Showers and Forest Fires

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On the topic of love, another form of celebratory event that is notorious for being disastrous and having unintended consequences is baby showers. With the excitement of revealing the child's gender, many couples have incorporated extravagant techniques to make their gender reveal party as memorable as possible. Using a rifle to shoot at a highly explosive substance (Tannerite), deploying a crop-dusting plane to dump gallons of coloured water over a field, and driving a car emitting blue smoke are one of the many of said outrageous gender-reveal methods (Morales & Waller, 2021). These have all led to repercussions to the environment and to society, with some cases involving the death of third parties. Today's focus however will be about a more recent baby shower disaster that happened in California, which resulted in the El Dorado wildfire. 

What Happened? 

In 2020, a couple used a pyrotechnic device (smoke bomb) to announce their baby's gender, which sparked a wildfire in the San Bernardino National Forest. Although it started off small, the family evidently failed to extinguish the fire as it consumed more than 20,000 acres (81 km2) of the forest. This unfortunately led to the death of one firefighter and many living near the forest areas having to evacuate their homes on short notice (Lampen, 2021). Take a look at this video to get an idea of the severity of the situation: 

Why is this a Concern? 

Forest fires can occur naturally, such as during extreme weather events, and are even beneficial for the growth of forests. Then, why is this particular wildfire a concern? More generally, accounts of environmental impacts of forest fires include the emissions of various chemicals and particulates which affect atmospheric, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on top of affecting humans (Martin, Tomida & Meacham, 2016). The most common contaminants of water bodies are nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx) and metals, as these flow as runoff. This can result in the increased presence of PBTs or Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic substances, which have long-term effects on ecosystems, particularly when they enter the food chain. One such example is methylmercury present in fish, which has lethal side-effects on fish consumers. As for air pollution, particles which remain in the air as smoke and soot and can be carried by wind include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other inorganic gases. These are all particularly harmful to populations nearby, making it a cause for concern especially when the spread is uncontrolled. That being said, there are a lot of negative impacts of human-induced forest fires which are lasting and difficult to mitigate. Hopefully, the disastrous history of baby showers should deter couples from going above and beyond for their gender reveal parties in the future. 

References: 

Lampen, C. (2021, July 21). Let This Be a Lesson to Us All. The Cut. https://www.thecut.com/2021/07/couple-charged-for-starting-deadly-wildfire-at-gender-reveal.html

Martin, D., Tomida, M. & Meacham, B. Environmental Impact of Fire. Fire Science Reviews 5, 5 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40038-016-0014-1

Morales, C., & Waller, A. (2021, July 21). Gender-Reveal Party Is Blamed in California Wildfire. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/07/us/gender-reveal-party-wildfire.html

The Guardian [Guardian News ]. (2020, September 22). California firefighters battle El Dorado fire. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wMv-CpucCE

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