In New Lawsuit, Families Say State, Local Officials Could Have Prevented Fatal Esparto Fireworks Warehouse Explosion
The families of those who died in an explosion at a Yolo County fireworks warehouse over a year ago are suing state and local officials for alleged negligence associated with their actions leading up to the blast.
“The entire incident was preventable and should have been prevented,” the lawsuit reads.
On July 1, 2025, seven workers were killed in an explosion at an Esparto fireworks warehouse on property owned by Samuel Machado, a former sheriff’s lieutenant in the county, and his wife, Tammy, who was also an employee of the agency. Devastating Pyrotechnics and Blackstar Fireworks stored the fireworks on the Machado property.
The explosion resulted in an almost 80 acre fire. Five people, including the Machado couple, were charged with murder by the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office this year for the deaths.
Five of those killed had Bay Area ties — San Francisco residents Neil Justin Li and Christopher Goltiao Bocog, Berkeley native Joel Jeremias Melendez, and brothers Jesus Manaces Ramos and Jhony Ernesto Ramos of San Pablo.
The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court for the County of San Francisco this week, claims that the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Esparto Fire Protection District and the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office failed to follow state and local laws, and companies Devastating Pyrotechnics and Blackstar Fireworks misrepresented their operations as legal and safe. The lawsuit also names the State of California, the County of Yolo and other individuals as defendants.
A Yolo County Civil Grand Jury report found that the warehouse was operating illegally and that some local fire officials were aware of this — allegations which county supervisors denied last month. Despite firework businesses being banned in unincorporated parts of Yolo for over two decades, the Grand Jury found that no code enforcement of the property had taken place.
Attorneys for the families allege that local officials knew the fireworks operation had been running since at least 2022, but the property “was allowed” to violate laws because of what they say is a close relationship between the sheriff’s office, other officials and the owners.
“The Subject Property was the beneficiary of intentionally selective non-enforcement of laws and regulations, which allowed [Devastating Pyrotechnics] and [Blackstar Fireworks] and [Samuel and Tammy Machado] to operate and create a dangerous condition of property without oversight, permits or enforcement of any safety regulations,” according to the lawsuit.
State fire officials also failed to perform “their basic mandatory duties” to enforce state laws and regulations, the families say.
There were also irregularities with a license obtained by Devastating Pyrotechnic’s CEO, Kenneth Chee, according to the lawsuit, and the Office of the State Fire Marshal knew about them before the Esparto explosion.
The lawsuit says that Chee, who has a conviction of assault with a firearm from the 1990s, was barred from obtaining a federal explosives license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF regulations ban anyone who is convicted of a crime that can result in more than a year of prison from obtaining such a license.
Instead ATF approved a license that had been transferred to Gary Chan, Jr. by Jack Lee, both also named in the lawsuit, to operate Devastating Pyrotechnics.
Chee, through the company, then obtained licenses from the state to sell fireworks and launch displays, but did not obtain a federal license, according to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Attorneys allege that Daniel Berlant with the Office of the State Fire Marshal was aware of Chee’s fireworks operations when the agency seized over 100,000 pounds of fireworks from a warehouse in Commerce in May 2025. “Much of the fireworks” belonged to Devastating Pyrotechnics, according to the lawsuit.
“Berlant knew, as of the Commerce raid, that the Devastating license was using the Esparto address,” the lawsuit says. “Berlant failed to conduct any inquiry despite this knowledge.”
A spokesperson for Cal Fire, the parent agency of the Office of the State Fire Marshal, said it does not comment on pending litigation. The Esparto Fire Protection District and the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.