There is nothing wrong with holding a party to celebrate the arrival of your baby, but perhaps we need to draw the line at what it means to be "extra" these days. We're all for creative ideas, but when it's potentially dangerous, let's be content with a cake.
It's the lesson the U.S. Forest Service didn't have to spell out after it released a clip from a gender-reveal party that started a wildfire that burned nearly 47,000 acres that included a national forest, CNN reports. We kid you not.
The clip, shot on April 13, 2017, began with a box, which had the words "boy" and "girl," placed in the middle of a desert (location: Green Valley, Arizona). Then, a gunshot was heard, and the gender-reveal box exploded. For a a second, you saw the burst of blue dust, but it was quickly overwlemed by brown smoke and the surrounding brush was on fire that quickly spread. It was a good thing someone was in the right frame of mind and shouted, "Start packing up!"
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It took firefighters from at least 20 U.S. agencies to stop the fire that raged on for about a week, according to CNN affiliate KGUN-TV.
The man who shot the target — with a high-powered rifle, no less — was the expectant dad, off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent Dennis Dickey. He packed the gender-reveal box with a highly explosive substance called Tannerite.
Dickey quickly reported the fire and was cooperative with the authorities. He pleaded guilty on September 2017, stating that it was "a complete accident," and was sentenced to five years probation. He was also fined more than US$8 million for restitution, "starting with an initial payment of US$100,000 and monthly payments thereafter."
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Yes, a gender-reveal disaster where things explode and cause damaging fire is rare thankfully. But even when you stick to cakes and balloons, there's still no guarantee that everything will go smoothly. Look at these other gender-reveal-gone-wrong clips:
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOWWas walking to Wrigley and saw a gender reveal happening, so glad I stopped to film it 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/KjepDjFNre
— Jeffrey Habjan (@the_JazzyJeff) May 13, 2018Whiffing during a gender reveal, that cannot happen pic.twitter.com/RokbtIYvvV
— Starting 9 (@Starting9) May 13, 2018If you're doing baseball or any sports-themed gender-reveal, for that matter, make sure you can really play.
CONTINUE READING BELOWwatch nowPiñatas work well, too; just make sure it's secure it when you hang it, but also easy to bust open.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOWHand over the envelope that contains the sex of your baby to someone who you trust — and who knows how gender-reveal boxes work.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOWAgain, stay away from anything that can catch fire.
