Video has been released showing how an off-duty Border Patrol agent celebrating his wife’s pregnancy last year accidentally started a 47,000-acre wildfire that took nearly 800 firefighters to extinguish.
Dennis Dickey, 37, of Tucson, Arizona, pleaded guilty last month to igniting the fire, which caused more than $US8.2 million ($A11.3 million) worth of damage in April 2017 when he shot a target containing Tannerite, a legal but highly explosive substance designed to detonate when shot by a high-velocity firearm.
The target was part of Dickey’s pre-planned celebration to announce the gender of the couple’s child and the target contained blue powder for a boy.
The footage shows the flames quickly spreading before a man can be heard yelling: “Start packing up, start packing up”.
As part of Dickey’s plea agreement, he will pay $US100,000 ($A138,000) in restitution upon sentencing on October 9. He’ll also pay monthly $US500 ($A690) instalments for the next two decades and be sentenced to five years of probation.
“It was a complete accident,” Dickey told a judge on Friday. “I feel absolutely horrible about it. It was probably one of the worst days of my life.”
No injuries were reported in the fire but several residents were evacuated from their homes as a precaution.
Dickey, who is expected to keep his job as a Border Patrol agent, will borrow from his retirement fund to pay the restitution.