Where is Esparto? What to know about area where fireworks facility exploded
The town of Esparto in Yolo County has a population of roughly 3,500 people and was known for being a stop on the Vaca Valley Railroad line until the early 1940s.
Otherwise, the small community located 30 miles west of downtown Sacramento has not been well known until a fireworks facility caught fire and exploded this week, days before the Fourth of July, creating national headlines as seven people remain unaccounted for.
The facility destroyed was located roughly a mile south of Esparto on the 26400 block of County Road 23 near County Road 86A.
Where is Esparto?
Esparto is 14 miles west of Woodland along Highway 16. The drive from Vacaville is roughly 30 minutes by taking Interstate 505 north and then exiting at Highway 16 and going west.
Esparto sits just east of the Capay Valley, Lake Berryessa and the Blue Ridge conservation area.
Esparto’s origins
Esparto earned its name from a native bunch grass after the town had initially been called Esperanza, which was built as a train stop not far from the Cache Creek in 1875 by investors from San Francisco who constructed fruit farms along what’s now the Southern Pacific Railroad. When the post office was installed in the 1880s, the name was changed to Esparto because another town in Tulare County had established Esperanza, according to research by noted historian and UC Berkeley professor Erwin Gudde, the original author of the book “California Place Names.”
An electrical grid was installed in the area in the 1920s and 30s.
The town didn’t grow much until the 1990s when the Esparto General Plan was prepared while the nearby Rumsey Rancheria bingo parlor became the Cache Creek Casino, which has become one of the most well-known landmark in the region. It became a destination resort in 2004 with 659 hotel rooms, a spa, more than 74,000 square feet of casino space and a well-reviewed 18-hole golf course. It’s located 9 miles northwest of Esparto along Highway 16.
In 1994, the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District retrofitted the Capay Diversion Dam, which was the longest dam in the world made of a rubber bladder. It was 475 feet long at the time and was replaced in 2024.
‘Mythbusters’ incident leads to damage in Esparto
There was another notable explosion around Esparto in 2009.
The popular Discovery Channel show, “Mythbusters,” filmed an episode at a nearby quarry titled “Knock Your Socks Off.” The goal of the show was to blow up 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate to knock the socks off a mannequin positioned near the explosion.
Residents in Esparto were caught off guard while the explosion caused damage to nearby buildings. The explosion ended up being larger and more impactful than the show’s producers expected.
The Esparto Fire Protection District reportedly had firefighters on hand for the explosion and decided not to notify residents to avoid people coming to the filming to see it up close. Officials from the show told KCRA 3 at the time that it replaced a handful of broken windows, but the show did not return to the town.
This story was originally published July 3, 2025 at 11:45 AM.
