Companies that sold gender-reveal fireworks which ignited California wildfire agree to $4m settlement

Key points

• Nearly six years after a couple’s gender-reveal stunt sparked a deadly wildfire in southern California, the companies that sold the pyrotechnic device have agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement.
• The Hubbard, Ohio-based Wholesale Fireworks Corp and its subsidiary American Fireworks Wholesale LLC have agreed to pay more than $4m, the US attorney’s office in the central district of California announced on Tuesday.
• A third company, the Miami-based Pink or Blue Gender Team Inc, agreed to pay $50,000. The payments resolve civil claims brought on behalf of the US Forest Service after the so-called El Dorado fire, which incinerated 22,744 acres (9,204 hectares) and wiped out nine structures and more than a dozen outbuildings.
• Forest Service estimates of the damage totaled more than $41m.
• Charles Morton, 39, a veteran Forest Service firefighter, died 12 days into the blaze while fighting the fire that had spread to the San Bernardino national forest.