--- title: Guy Whose Gender Reveal Party Started Wildfire Will Pay Fine description: The proud dad accidentally set off a 47,000 acre wildfire in Arizona with his explosive antics — and will now pay a $220,000 fine. canonical: https://time.com/5411530/gender-reveal-wildfire/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-01T15:46:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:11.380Z og:title: Guy Whose Gender Reveal Party Started Wildfire Will Pay Fine og:description: The proud dad will be paying a $220,000 fine after sparking a 47,000 acre fire og:url: https://time.com/5411530/gender-reveal-wildfire/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8cbad171187b65d/69893b89e76ad21d4b63322b/gender-reveal-wildfire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Massive Arizona Wildfire Spreads, Threatening Nearby Towns og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Guy Whose Gender Reveal Party Started Wildfire Will Pay Fine twitter:description: The proud dad will be paying a $220,000 fine after sparking a 47,000 acre fire twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8cbad171187b65d/69893b89e76ad21d4b63322b/gender-reveal-wildfire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'It Was a Complete Accident.' 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 1, 2018 3:46 PM UTC  A firefighter watches flames grow after setting a backburn on Highway 191 in an attempt to control a raging wildfire on June 10, 2011 in Nutrioso, Arizona. A firefighter watches flames grow after setting a backburn on Highway 191 in an attempt to control a raging wildfire on June 10, 2011 in Nutrioso, Arizona. Kevork Djansezian—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 1, 2018 3:46 PM UTC Building a family can be an exciting prospect. But maybe it’s time to tone down the [gender reveal parties](http://time.com/5217312/louisiana-couple-alligator-gender-reveal/) — at least when it comes to the use of actual explosives to celebrate a new baby. That’s the lesson learned by one Arizona couple [who will be fined](https://tucson.com/news/local/border-agent-to-pay-k-for-tucson-area-wildfire-sparked/article%5F77b07742-c343-11e8-a6c7-9b739a2ac90b.html) $220,000 after the husband’s misguided use of an explosive substance lit a 47,000-acre wildfire back in 2017, requiring nearly 800 firefighters to tame the flames and costing the government about $8.2 million, as the [_Arizona Daily Star_ reports.](https://tucson.com/news/local/border-agent-to-pay-k-for-tucson-area-wildfire-sparked/article%5F77b07742-c343-11e8-a6c7-9b739a2ac90b.html) “It was a complete accident,” the man behind the scheme, Border Patrol agent Dennis Dickey, told a judge last week. “I feel absolutely horrible about it. It was probably one of the worst days of my life.” Dickey pled guilty last week to a federal misdemeanor charge for causing the fire, dubbed the Sawmill Fire. (It was not ruled as arson, because it was not a “willful act.”) Gender reveal parties have been developing into more and [more outlandish stunts](http://time.com/3817158/mom-freaks-out-gender-reveal/) over the years, as couples surprise guests with the news of the expected baby’s gender. In this case, Dickey shot his rifle at a target that contained colored powder to indicate the gender. The explosive substance was Tannerite, a legal compound, that ignited after being shot. (News reports [have not determined](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/10/01/a-border-patrol-agent-threw-a-gender-reveal-party-he-ended-up-starting-a-47000-acre-wildfire/?noredirect=on&utm%5Fterm=.094c6fe395a4) the ultimate gender of the baby.) Unfortunately for Dickey, strong winds and fire-friendly conditions turned his family’s big day into a costly affair. He’ll be paying his fine in installments for the next 20 years, and will spend the next five on probation. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5411530/gender-reveal-wildfire/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5411530/gender-reveal-wildfire/"},"headline":"'It Was a Complete Accident.' 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