'The entire incident was preventable,' victims' families sue over deadly Esparto fireworks explosion

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Nearly a year after a deadly explosion at a Northern California fireworks warehouse killed seven workers and damaged nearby properties, victims’ families and property owners filed a lawsuit Friday, accusing fireworks companies and multiple state and county officials of negligence and fraud.

“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,” plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a statement.

“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.”

The explosion occurred around 6 p.m. July 1 at a property in Esparto, California, in Yolo County. The property was owned by Samuel Machado, a former Yolo County sheriff’s lieutenant, and his wife, Tiffany, a sheriff’s office employee.

The blast killed seven Devastating Pyrotechnics workers. Officials say explosives were being illegally manufactured and stored on the Machados’ property by Devastating Pyrotechnics and another fireworks company, Blackstar Fireworks.

The plaintiffs say many of those killed were minorities working for cash in dangerous conditions without the safety precautions required by state law.

The 99-page suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, claims California, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office, Yolo County and the Esparto Fire Protection District knew about the illegal operations on the Machado property as early as 2022 but failed to enforce the law or take other action to prevent the tragedy.

Instead, plaintiffs claim the agencies “allowed unpermitted operations to continue until the disaster occurred based upon friendships and networking of individual defendants.”

“The subject property was the beneficiary of intentionally selective non-enforcement of laws and regulations, which allowed Devastating and Blackstar and Machado defendants to operate and create a dangerous condition of property without oversight, permits or enforcement of any safety regulations,” the plaintiffs say in their complaint.

The plaintiffs name numerous defendants, including Devastating Pyrotechnics owner Kenneth Chee; managing agent Gary Chan Jr.; and Craig Cutright, a former Esparto Fire Protection District employee, owner of Blackstar Fireworks and associate of Devastating.

They also name government officials, including Esparto Fire Chief Curtis Lawrence, Yolo County Sheriff Tom Lopez, State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant and Chief Building Official Scott Doolittle, who they say failed to carry out their statutory duties to enforce state laws, regulations and county ordinances.

The suit also names individual government employees, including Moustrumi Hasan, the county’s supervising hazardous materials specialist, and Reiko Matsumura, a former sheriff’s deputy, Tammy Machado’s sister and owner of the property adjacent to the Machados'.

The plaintiffs also name Samuel and Tammy Machado, accusing them of using their county connections to profit from the illegal and dangerous operation on their property without government interference.

The suit brings 17 claims against the various defendants, including breach of mandatory duties, intentional misrepresentation, nuisance, negligence, strict liability, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful death and multiple violations of California labor law.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress, property damage, lost wages, medical expenses and funeral costs.

“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,” plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a statement.

A representative for CalFire declined to respond, citing pending litigation.

Counsel for the other defendants did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Around April 13, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced charges against seven people in connection with the explosion: Cutright, his employee Ronald Botelho III, Samuel Machado, Chee, Chan and Chee’s associates Jack Lee and Douglas Michael Tollefson.

Machado, Chee, Chan, Lee and Tollefson each face seven murder charges, one for each person killed in the explosion. They also face charges including illegal possession and transportation of explosives, child endangerment, animal cruelty, tax fraud, insurance fraud and maintaining a dangerous workplace.

The plaintiffs acknowledged the criminal charges but said the number of 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,” they said.

A civil grand jury report released in March concluded various top Yolo County officials were aware of illegal fireworks operations at the site for at least three years before the explosion, yet didn’t take any action to shut it down.

In response, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors disputed the grand jury’s findings, saying the accusation that county staff knew about the illegal operation and intentionally chose not to intervene was “drawn from an incomplete record.”

“The board will not allow legitimate questions about administrative procedures to be transformed into a claim that county staff or the board bear causal responsibility for this tragedy,” they said.

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