Border Agent’s Gender Reveal Party Explosion Causes $8.2 Million Fire

Never has the phrase "I have to laugh" been more appropriate.

A video obtained by the U.S. Forest Service shows a border agent's gender reveal party resulting in a massive explosion and fire that burned 47,000 acres of land.

A 49-second video published by the Arizona Daily Star chronicles the incident, which occured in the Santa Rita Mountain foothills last April. The video shows a sign painted "Boy/Girl" sitting in the dry grass. It explodes, emitting a puff of blue smoke before setting the brush aflame. Officials later learned that the substance used to cause the blast was Tannerite, which detonates when shot with a firearm.

Before it was subdued, the fire burned 47,000 acres of land. 800 firefighters battled the blaze, bringing in heavy air tankers of water and helicopters to slow the spread of the flames which cost $8.2 million to extinguish; Notions of binary gender aren't just antiquated, they're expensive!

The culprit behind the explosion is Border Patrol Agent Dennis Dickey, who ignited the blaze during a gender reveal party for the child he was expecting with his wife. Dickey pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of causing a fire without a permit on September 27, agreeing to pay $220,000, proving that justice isn't blind, it's queer.

The explosion from the gender reveal party was blue, so...it's a boy -- until, at least, they grow up to encounter social justice, hates their father for participating in the state-sanctioned racism of border patrol and identifies as nonbinary.

Related | Celine Dion's Nonbinary Clothing Line Not Faring Well with Exorcists