Federal investigators join Esparto fireworks blast investigation; 7 still missing
A national Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms response team has been called to Esparto where seven people remain missing in the thunderous Tuesday blasts that leveled a firework facility and ignited spot fires in the small Yolo County town.
The specialized team assembles for major fire and explosives investigations like the one now known as the Oakdale Incident. They are ATF special agents, fire investigators, and forensic chemists; fire protection and electrical engineers; explosives specialists, intelligence researchers and accelerant-detecting dog teams.
National Response Teams have responded to some of the most notable disasters in recent U.S. history including the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995; and the September 11, 2001, terror attack on the World Trade Center.
The rapid response team will assist investigators who have been poring over the explosion site since Tuesday night, Cal Fire officials said in a Wednesday evening update as the search for answers into the blast continues now into a third day in still-unstable conditions.
In a statement, officials at Devastating Pyrotechnics, whose facilities were destroyed in the explosion, offered thoughts to the families of those believed lost in the blast and gratitude to first responders who rushed to the scene.
“Our hearts and thoughts are with those we lost, their families, and everyone impacted in our community,” the statement read. “We are grateful for the swift response of law enforcement and emergency personnel. Our focus will remain on those directly impacted by this tragedy, and we will cooperate fully with the proper authorities in their investigation.”
They include 18-year-old Syanna Ruiz, barely weeks into her pregnancy. Her boyfriend, Jesus Ramos, also 18, was believed to be inside the warehouse at the time of the blast. It was his first day on the job, Ruiz said, earning money to help support their child.
Ramos’ brother, Johnny Ramos, and his stepbrother, Joel Junior Melendez, were also among the seven missing, according to Ruiz. Melendez had worked at the facility in previous summers.
”They were, all three, incredible men who had so much coming for them, that had so much coming their way,” Ruiz told The Bee on Wednesday. “I’m just praying to God that some way, somehow, they’re okay.”
The family was told by authorities they would hear an update by Saturday. Esparto Fire Chief Curtis Lawrence at a Wednesday news conference said crews could not go onto the site due to the dangers that remained. Recovering the bodies of the blast victims was a “big concern,” Lawrence said when Ruiz asked what fire crews were doing on that front.
The pain in this rural community in far western Yolo County, about 30 miles west of Sacramento, has intensified as the names and the stories of the missing are known.
Melendez is the father of an 11-month-old son. His wife, Maria, is expecting their second child, her cousin, Marilly Kepoo-Galicia, said in a GoFundMe appeal for the family.
“This tragic accident has taken so much from so many, and for Maria, it’s shattered her entire world,” Kepoo-Galicia wrote. “What should be a joyful and hopeful time has instead become filled with fear, uncertainty, and heartbreak.”
Cal Fire officials late Wednesday said the priority for Esparto and local fire crews was to gain access to the ruined facility so authorities can begin to recover those lost in the disaster and “bolster investigative efforts for the explosion investigation.”
The pyrotechnics explosions at the fireworks warehouse in the 26400 block of County Road 23 near County Road 86A, about a mile south of Highway 16, was said to have ignited numbers of spot fires in the area. Cal Fire said the Oakdale Fire blackened 78 acres before crews halted forward progress Tuesday night.
Calls to Esparto Fire Protection District for the first explosion came just before 6 p.m. Tuesday, with fire officials quickly confirming that multiple buildings had been damaged or destroyed. Explosions went off as late as 10 p.m. Tuesday evening.
The area remained volatile into the night Wednesday. Cal Fire officials in their nightly update said the scene “currently remains active and hazardous with explosions continuing to occur through the afternoon and evening.”
For frustrated loved ones of the missing and authorities alike, questions remain.
What triggered the blast? Were additional materials beside fireworks stored at the site? Did more than one company store its pyrotechnics there?
Explosions at pyrotechnics facilities are extremely rare, Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, an industry group, told The Sacramento Bee this week. Human interaction is almost always the culprit, she said, triggering catastrophe.
Storage facilities like the doomed Esparto site must be licensed by both state fire authorities and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said Heckman, a member of Cal Fire’s fireworks advisory committee, and must be specially built with materials that do not create sparks or static electricity.
Fireworks for Friday’s Independence Day festivities from Marysville to Placerville and the north Bay Area were stored at the Yolo County facility, the blast forcing organizers to reschedule, postpone or cancel their events.
This story was originally published July 3, 2025 at 11:49 AM.
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