Wildfires have done an untold amount of damage this year in California, but one casualty of a Northern California fire will take your breath away. In Yolo County, a fire called the Oakdale Fire reached a warehouse storing fireworks, which led to an astonishing explosion near the town of Esparto.
Sacramento news station KCRA had a helicopter above the warehouse and was in the right place at the right time to catch the explosion. A massive fireball erupted, and fireworks began to detonate.
Explosion at fireworks warehouse in Yolo County, California captured on live TV pic.twitter.com/QPgEdeenwu
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) July 2, 2025
As of Tuesday night, law enforcement officials didn’t have a cause for the fire and explosion. The explosion led to a bevy of spot fires, which wound up burning around 80 acres in total, according to the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit said it was responding to the commercial and vegetation fire in Yolo County.
The agency, known as Cal Fire, is investigating the cause of the fire, but a representative from the sheriff’s office said Tuesday night that there was nothing apparently criminal. Drones were being used to assess the damage.
Yolo County issued an evacuation order for what fire officials have named the Oakdale Fire, but some people were allowed to return Tuesday night. People south of an area south of Highway 16 remained under an evacuation order.
“Everything is very preliminary right now,” said Esparto Fire Protection District Chief Curtis Lawrence to reporters on Tuesday evening. He wouldn’t say if there were injuries, but he said that when firefighters arrived, they discovered “a few commercial buildings well-involved, as well as numerous explosions and numerous spot fires throughout the area.”
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The fire destroyed the fireworks inventory for multiple nearby localities just days before Friday’s Independence Day celebrations.
Public officials said fireworks for Yuba City, Marysville, as well as Sutter and Yuba counties, were destroyed in the fire.
“At this time, we cannot confirm whether the fireworks portion of the event will move forward, but we are working diligently on a Plan B that would still allow the community to come together in a safe and meaningful way,” the coalition of officials for the region said in a statement.
Officials said that they would provide updates on the celebration plans by Wednesday or Thursday.
“We do believe this location is owned by an active pyrotechnic license holder, and as part of our investigation, we will be working to determine that everything happening at the facility was within our license requirements,” California Deputy Fire Marshal Kara Garrett said. “This type of incident is very rare, as facilities like this are required to not only follow our stringent California pyrotechnic requirements, but also federal explosive storage requirements.”
A pyrotechnics industry group is waiting for answers about the fire and explosion as well.
“What happened at that facility that would have sparked such a significant explosion and for it to transfold [sic] so very, very quickly? And, I think that’s what we’re eager to know. Again, the firework industry has an impeccable record when it comes to safety, and so getting to the bottom of what sparked this particular incident is very important to us,” said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association.
The investigation into the fire and explosion is ongoing, and there’s no telling how long it will take to complete it. It’s a shame that so many communities are scrambling for alternative Fourth of July plans as a result.
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