Task force to look at loopholes in regulations after Esparto fireworks explosion

By Lysée Mitri, Dave Manoucheri

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    ESPARTO, Calif. (KCRA) — As investigators continue to look into what happened at an Esparto fireworks storage facility that led to a series of explosions and the deaths of seven people, experts are now looking at what needs to change in the future.

Their goal: to make sure something like this never happens again.

“We are putting together a task force,” said Daniel Berlant, the California State Fire Marshal.

That task force will include law enforcement and fire service leaders. They will look at the state regulations regarding fireworks, fireworks operators, and storage facilities in an effort to close any loopholes.

“Now, the law says you must get a state license from us to have pyrotechnics and that you then must go to a local jurisdiction to get a local permit,” said Berlant.

But KCRA 3 Investigates first revealed that, in the Esparto case, two companies— Devastating Pyrotechnics and Blackstar Fireworks—both had state licenses. Neither company, however, had a local permit.

Right now, nothing requires local and state authorities to communicate about that, so the lack of a Yolo County permit at the fireworks facility off County Road 23 in Esparto went unnoticed for years.

“We feel that it can be within our regulatory authority to add language,” said Berlant. “To make sure that folks are getting their local permits and that they’re providing notification in the state so that we can be somewhat [aware] of the checks and balances.”

Even on the state level, Devastating Pyrotechnics may not have had all the proper licenses. While it was licensed for importing and exporting fireworks as well as for wholesale sales and public displays, Berlant said, “Devastating Pyrotechnics was not licensed to be a manufacturer in the state of California.”

Yet in a 2023 proposal to the city of Rio Vista, the company marketed itself as “one of the premier importers and manufacturers of display pyrotechnics in the Western US.”

The deadly explosions also exposed inconsistencies between state and federal regulations for fireworks licenses.

“The law does not allow me to deny a license for anybody that has a felony, unless that felony is related to explosives or arson or other fire-related crimes,” said Berlant.

Federal law, however, says anyone convicted of a felony is ineligible to get an ATF explosives license. In fact, even if under indictment but not convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year (the minimum threshold for a felony), it can disqualify someone from getting an explosives license.

Devastating Pyrotechnics’ CEO, Kenneth Chee, was sentenced to five years for assault with a firearm in 1998, serving his time in San Quentin. While that would have prevented him from getting an ATF license, he was still able to get a state license as an importer/exporter and as an operator.

“The task force may look at making some statutory recommendations to the legislature. But our focus within our authority is the regulations,” said Berlant.

Cal Fire is focused on the loopholes they say they see at the state level, but the communications between local authorities, along with their communication to the state, are also important.

The day after the explosions, the Esparto Fire Chief said he was aware of the facilities during a press conference near the site. At the same time, Yolo County said fireworks were not allowed to be stored at the property. A question of whether the fire department knew fireworks were stored there and the county didn’t remains. Ultimately, according to state authorities, it is the county that needed to know because Yolo County is the entity with the power to issue a permit, which would have then led to inspections.

As of this writing, KCRA 3 Investigates continues to ask the county about its processes and awareness of the facility in Esparto.

As for the task force, Berlant said that he wants to put it together in the next few months to focus on changing regulations. While regulatory changes can sometimes take years to enact, he said he would request emergency authority to speed things up in a situation like this where lives could be at risk.

“Our regulations are there in place to make sure that Californians can do business with fireworks, but that they do it safely,” he said.

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