Farm sues over deadly Esparto fireworks explosion, claiming crop loss and negligence

By Ashley Sharp

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    YOLO COUNTY, California (KOVR) — The first civil lawsuit stemming from the deadly fireworks warehouse explosion in Esparto that shook the entire community three weeks ago has been filed in Yolo County Superior Court.

It’s not on behalf of the families of the seven workers killed in the blast, though lawsuits are expected to be filed in the near future, but rather from a nearby farm.

Etta James Farming LLC, based out of Knights Landing, is suing for what attorneys claim to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to their crops and farming business when the July 1 explosion sparked the Oakdale Fire, which burned nearly 80 acres of nearby land.

“This is not a major corporate farming operation. This is an area where most farms are owned by people who make their living by farming and if crops don’t come through one year, that has a major impact on them and their families,” said Christopher Rodriguez, attorney for Etta James Farming.

The lawsuit alleges 24 acres of wheat and 50 acres of canario bean crops burned.

“The damage was not only to the crops themselves, but also to the farming equipment being used to farm those crops,” Rodriguez said.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the company Devastating Pyrotechnics and its CEO Kenneth Chee; Blackstar Fireworks and its owner Craig Cutright; Sam Machado and up to 200 unnamed “Does” that the suit alleges are not yet publicly known.

The two companies have had their fireworks licenses suspended by the state.

Cutright and Machado both have connections to local law enforcement agencies, as CBS Sacramento has reported.

Machado is a Lieutenant with the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office; he owned and lived on the property where the warehouse exploded, his home destroyed. Machado’s wife, Tammy, was a non-sworn, administrative employee of the sheriff’s office. Both are currently on leave pending the investigation.

Cutright serves as an Esparto Volunteer Firefighter, also currently on leave, with business connections to both Blackstar Fireworks and Devastating Pyrotechnics.

“The incident, which was preventable, should never have happened,” Rodriguez said.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants are responsible for causing the explosion and fire that followed and are negligent in not doing enough to prevent it.

Among the long list of allegations in the lawsuit are that Devastating Pyrotechnics and its operators failed to follow safety protocols, that explosives were not properly stored or inspected, that they failed to properly train employees and that there was no notification of hazardous materials being stored.

The lawsuit reads that the defendants were “…part of an unlawful and unpermitted commercial-grade fireworks operation that, upon information and belief, included the storage and sale of illegal fireworks to members of the public…” and goes on to allege that the defendants, “…failed to comply with basic safety standards, instead conducting operations at the Fireworks Facility in a reckless manner that they knew or should have known caused an unreasonable risk of catastrophic explosion and fire.”

Concerning Machado, the lawsuit alleges he had “actual knowledge” that the other defendants were conducting illegal and unpermitted business.

The lawsuit further claims that Machado, in turn, “…realized substantial financial benefits.”

As CBS Sacramento has reported, the land was not permitted at the local level to store fireworks. It was zoned only for agricultural use.

“There’s a concept in the law called res ipsa loquitur, the incident speaks for itself. As I mentioned, you don’t get a devastating explosion like this where there are appropriate procedures in place,” Rodriguez said.

California’s state fire marshal, the lead in the investigation, told CBS Sacramento in recent interviews that fireworks explosions like this are rare because they do not happen when the state’s stringent fireworks rules and regulations are followed.

The investigation into the explosion’s origin and any potential wrongdoing is ongoing and no one has been charged with a crime.

Friday, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, alongside Yolo County Sheriff Tom Lopez and Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig, asked the California Department of Justice to join Cal Fire in leading the investigation. Attorney General Rob Bonta has not yet responded to the county’s request.

As families of the victims told CBS Sacramento, they are also pushing for transparency and answers as to who is responsible for the deadly explosion. Lawsuits are expected to be filed on behalf of the victims individually in the near future.

CBS Sacramento reached out to all of the parties named in this lawsuit before publishing this story. None provided a comment.

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