By admin 
Nearly one year after the Esparto fireworks explosion killed seven workers, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday formally rejected the central conclusions of a civil grand jury report that faulted county officials for allowing the illegal operation to flourish.
Read more Northern CA mom convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 11-year-old son’s death
The board unanimously adopted the county’s required response to the grand jury report, arguing jurors reached unsupported conclusions based on an incomplete record and insisting county officials were deceived by the operators of the fireworks businesses rather than ignoring obvious violations.
The response goes beyond disputing individual findings, repeatedly challenging one of the grand jury’s principal conclusions — that county officials knew enough about the illegal operation to intervene before the catastrophe. The county argues the grand jury fundamentally misunderstood what happened before the explosion, saying its investigation relied on speculation instead of evidence and wrongly blamed county officials for a criminal enterprise prosecutors say was built on years of deception.
“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,” the county wrote in its response. Instead, it argued, responsibility “rests with the enterprise and the people who built it, concealed it, expanded it and continued operating it until their conduct culminated in catastrophe.”
Tuesday’s action largely formalized a strategy county officials had telegraphed months ago.
On the day the grand jury report was released, the county issued a statement disputing its conclusions before the report became public, saying it would challenge findings it considered “speculative or otherwise unfounded.” Weeks before the report was published, supervisors voted to authorize Board Chair Oscar Villegas and County Administrator Michael Webb to issue that statement on the county’s behalf immediately upon the report’s release.
The county’s response offers the clearest picture yet of how officials intend to defend themselves against more than 20 civil claims and lawsuits stemming from the July 1, 2025, explosion on County Roads 23 and 86A, which also leveled the fireworks compound and two homes miles south of the town and torched 78 acres.
County disputes grand jury’s timeline
In a 20-page response submitted to Yolo Superior Court, county officials argued the grand jury completed its work before prosecutors unsealed felony indictments against eight people connected to Devastating Pyrotechnics and BlackStar Fireworks. Those criminal charges allege a yearslong enterprise built on deception that misled local, state and federal agencies, including Yolo County.
“The central problem is that the grand jury completed its report before critical facts became available,” the county’s response states. “The board has a duty to state clearly where the report’s conclusions exceed the evidence.”
The county argues it had no authority to issue state fireworks licenses, never approved fireworks activity at the Esparto property and was never notified when state or federal licenses were issued or renewed. County officials also maintained that employees inspecting the property in June 2022 encountered what appeared to be an agricultural storage building that the owner had represented would store farm equipment, not explosives.
“The title declares that officials ‘knew’ and that ‘none acted,’” the county wrote. “Yet the report later acknowledges that the grand jury ‘could not determine definitively’ why County staff did not pursue matters at the Esparto property further in 2022.”
Records revealed years of missed opportunities
That account differs sharply from records previously obtained by The Sacramento Bee and published in August. Those records showed county building officials discovered the property was being used for a pyrotechnics business in June 2022 after initially approving a 4,500-square-foot metal warehouse for agricultural storage. Internal emails showed Chief Building Official Scott Doolittle planned to “tread lightly” because sheriff’s deputies were connected to the property but documented concerns that the warehouse appeared to be operating beyond the scope of its agricultural exemption.
The grand jury in its report found the Yolo County Community Services Department discovered the fireworks compound in 2022 but “failed to take any action, and the fireworks business continued to quietly operate and even expand.” The report also questioned whether the property’s ties to Yolo County Sheriff’s Office employees contributed to lax oversight and criticized what it described as years of weak code enforcement.
The records also showed county officials learned the property contained roughly 25 shipping containers used to store fireworks. Supervising Hazardous Materials Specialist Moushumi Hasan advised the operators should submit a Hazardous Materials Business Plan if they were storing reportable quantities of fireworks, a filing that would have triggered regular inspections.
Read more Who will Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors pick in NBA draft lottery?
County records indicate no such plan was ever submitted.
The county has consistently maintained employees never observed fireworks or hazardous materials inside the warehouse itself and relied on repeated assurances from the property owners and their representatives that the building would be used only for agricultural storage. Officials also cited statements from Esparto Fire Protection District Chief Curtis Lawrence that the operation was federally licensed and primarily involved “Safe and Sane” fireworks.
The county also rejected findings that the Board of Supervisors fostered a “laissez-faire” attitude toward code enforcement and failed to provide adequate resources for building and safety enforcement, calling those conclusions speculative and unsupported by evidence.
Criminal case reshaped county’s defense
On April 3, a separate criminal grand jury indicted eight defendants connected to Devastating Pyrotechnics and BlackStar Fireworks.
Prosecutors alleged the companies operated a yearslong criminal enterprise built on deception, using false statements, fraudulent permit applications and front license holders to conceal illegal fireworks manufacturing and storage from regulators.
Five defendants, including Devastating Pyrotechnics founder Kenneth Chee and Yolo County Sheriff’s Lt. Sam Machado, were charged with seven counts of murder — one for each person killed in the explosion.
The grand jury made 16 recommendations directed to the Board of Supervisors, Community Services Department and Sheriff’s Office after reviewing public records, touring the blast site and conducting more than 40 hours of interviews with public officials. The recommendations largely focused on strengthening code enforcement, improving interagency communication and increasing oversight.
While rejecting many of the report’s findings, the county agreed with recommendations calling for improvements to county programs, procedures, training, coordination and oversight, saying work on those efforts is already underway.
Other agencies named in the grand jury report have also responded.
The Yolo County Sheriff’s Office in its May response largely disputed the report’s conclusions, arguing prosecutors’ criminal case shows county employees were among those deceived by the alleged conspiracy rather than knowingly allowing illegal activity to continue. The Sheriff’s Office acknowledged reforms are warranted but said the grand jury lacked critical evidence that became public after its investigation concluded.
The Yolo Local Agency Formation Commission agreed to revisit regional fire protection issues identified by the grand jury and said its next municipal services review would examine opportunities to improve fire district coordination, governance and emergency response.
The criminal case alleges Devastating Pyrotechnics founder Chee and his associates continued operating despite being ineligible for a federal explosives permit, relying on associates to obtain licenses while importing and repackaging fireworks from overseas. Prosecutors also allege the businesses expanded operations even after a 2023 fireworks explosion in San Jose and a massive state seizure of illegal explosives in Commerce weeks before the Esparto blast.
Among those charged are Chee; operations manager Jack Y. Lee; Gary Y. Chan Jr., who allegedly obtained the federal explosives permit on the company’s behalf; Douglas Michael Tollefsen; Machado and his wife, Tammy Machado, who owned the property; BlackStar owner Craig Cutright, an Esparto volunteer firefighter; and Ronald Botelho III.
Five defendants face murder charges, while others are accused of conspiracy, illegally possessing explosives and manufacturing destructive devices.
Read more Billionaire business exec Meg Whitman sells ‘revered’ Northern California ranch