Families Affected by the Esparto Fireworks Explosion File Lawsuit Seeking Accountability
Press Release: Esparato Fireworks Explosions
On July 23, 2026, the families and landowners affected by the Esparto fireworks explosions of July 1, 2025, filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court for the County of San Francisco to seek justice for the families who lost loved ones and for the contamination of the neighboring land. The lawsuit which covers the numerous violations of law by the defendants also provides a timeline of events that shows this tragic event should never have happened. The lawsuit names numerous defendants which include various groups of responsible parties, but one thing is clear, this tragedy did not need to happen
One group of defendants includes the fireworks companies, Devastating and Blackstar and the owners and operators who were conducting the illegal business operation at the Machados’ residence in Esparto, CA.
Another group of defendants includes the State of California, Office of the State Fire Marshall, County of Yolo, Esparto Fire Protection District and Yolo County Sheriff’s Department who, through their officials and employees, failed to perform their basic mandatory duties to enforce state laws, regulations and ordinances which would have prevented this tragedy.
Also named are various officials and employees of the public entities including the State Fire Marshall, Daniel Berlant, Sheriff, Tom Lopez, and Esparto Fire Chief, Curtis Lawrence and other employees of the County of Yolo who failed to perform their mandatory statutory duties to enforce state laws, regulations and County ordinances.
Other individuals named as Defendants include the Machados as the homeowners who allowed illegal fireworks operation on their property along with the gun business. They were county employees who benefited from their connections to the county to profit from an illegal and dangerous operation on their property without any government interference.
The surviving families of the workers who died that day and the affected homeowners and farmers neighboring the explosion site live with this tragedy each day. The District Attorney is prosecuting a number of individuals, who are named in this lawsuit, but that group of criminal defendants is small given the number of state, county and fire district employees who failed to perform their jobs and for which there is no accountability. This lawsuit demands not only justice for the plaintiffs but accountability from all of the defendants. We hope this lawsuit brings transparency to the failures that occurred at the local and state levels so a tragedy like this can be avoided.
Dennis E. Wagner, Esq.
Daniel Moussatche, Esq.
WAGNER ZEMMING CHRISTENSEN, LLP
895 Marlborough Ave., Suite 200
Riverside, CA 92507
Ramin R. Younessi, Esq.
Setareh Panah, Esq.
LAW OFFICES OF RAMIN R. YOUNESSI
3435 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 2200
Los Angeles, California 90010
Mark E. Berry, Esq.
William J. Gorham III, Esq.
Nicholas J. Scardigli, Esq.
MAYALL HURLEY, P.C.
112 S. Church St.
Lodi, CA 95240
Kyle Tambornini, Esq.
Seth R. Bradley, Esq.
EASON & TAMBORNINI, ALC
1234 H Street, Ste. 200
Sacramento, CA 95814
Christopher R. Rodriguez, Esq
Andrew D. Bluth, Esq.
SINGLETON SCHREIBER, LLP
1414 K Street, Suite 470
Sacramento, CA 95814
