Gender reveal party stunt starts 45,000 acre wildfire and $8m of damage An off-duty border guard attempts to shoot a target and set off a blue puff of smoke – but sets the surrounding forest on fire instead

One gender reveal party has been started with a bang, and it’s a celebration the parents will not forget any time soon.

Video footage of a devastating 45,000 acre wildfire caused by a coloured puff of smoke – meant to disclose the baby’s gender – has been shared.

Gender reveal parties, which are a more popular phenomenon in the US than in the UK, are hosted to celebrate the revelation of a baby’s gender before they are born.

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In the case of one party hosted on 29 April 2017 in southern Arizona, however, things went horribly wrong.

‘Start packing up!’

The footage shows off-duty US Border Patrol agent and dad-to-be Dennis Dickey attempting to shoot a makeshift target inscribed with the word “boy” in an area of remote scrub-land in Green Valley.

However, when Mr Dickey shot the target, a canister containing the explosive substance Tannerite burst into flames.

A voice is heard shouting “Start packing up!” as the fire begins to spread.

CNN reported that the fire spread through the Coronado National Forest, and it took firefighters from 20 agencies a week to contain.

The fire burned for 73 square miles (190 square kilometres) of US state and federal land, and lasted for a week.

The blaze was even christened the Sawmill Fire.

Due to the stunt, 30 homes were evacuated and two minor injuries were sustained, reported Forbes.

All in all, the damage and firefighting costs topped $8 million.

Agent Dennis Dickey said he constructed the target with an explosive substance inside. He pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanour charge, reported ABC News.

The agent has been ordered to pay $8 million (£6,253,840) in restitution.

However, a federal court reduced the total penalty to be paid to $200,000 at a sentencing hearing in October.

The US border agent also has to serve five years under probation.

Gender reveal parties

Many have used the fire as an reason to dismiss gender reveal parties.

Journalist Madeline Schmitt said she was “so over ridiculous gender reveal gags”.

“Check out the ‘price tag’ of fighting this fire toward the bottom of the article,” she tweeted.

I am so over ridiculous gender reveal gags and this only affirms that. Check out the “price tag” of fighting this fire toward the bottom of the article. https://t.co/CGWRequ4pr — Madeline David (@MadelineDDavid) November 27, 2018

Others have criticised the celebration because of its reinforcement of gender stereotypes.

“Just saying, there wouldn’t have been a fire if the kid was gender fluid,” tweeted trans rollerskater Jordan Raskopoulos.