Emails show investigators wanted to probe Esparto warehouse owner before deadly blast

Newly released emails show that California fire investigators had discussed scrutinizing the company tied to last summer’s deadly fireworks warehouse explosion in Esparto long before the blast occurred.

Criminal investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, responding to a tip, communicated on June 29, 2023 that they should extend their investigation of a San Jose fire fueled by illegal fireworks to probe Devastating Pyrotechnics, the company tied to the Esparto blast.

In an email obtained by The Sacramento Bee, Cal Fire Arson and Bomb Inspector Brian Gouge wrote to three other Cal Fire investigators: “Looks like we will be back to looking at Devastating Pyro.”

This was almost two years before fireworks exploded July 1 in Esparto, 40 miles outside of Sacramento, killing seven people.

In January, State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant said that the tip about the San Jose fire did not lead to a probe of Devastating Pyrotechnics, because “it contained no allegations or sufficient details to initiate an investigation. Nor was there an explicit tie to the San Jose incident.”

Berlant’s comments came before Cal Fire’s latest release of public records, which included Gouge’s June 2023 email. That email showed the agency not only considered investigating Devastating Pyrotechnics after the San Jose fire, but had examined the company before.

Owner’s past

Whatever the reason for not following up on the tip, the failure to travel to Esparto to inspect Devastating Pyrotechnics operations allowed an extensive black market operation to continue without scrutiny.

In a statement to The Bee, a spokesperson for Cal Fire said the staff had previously questioned whether the criminal record of Kenneth Chee, who founded the company in 2013, “allowed him to hold a license.”

Cal Fire did not respond to questions about when staff had previously examined Chee’s eligibility, except to say that his criminal history came up during a license renewal process.

In 1997, then 20-year-old Chee was convicted for multiple felonies for shooting a 14-year-old youth with an unregistered semi-automatic weapon in San Francisco, according to court records.

That conviction barred Chee from holding a federal fireworks license, but Cal Fire said it could take no action on Chee’s license because of state law.

“California law only allows the State Fire Marshal to deny a license based on a criminal record for crimes involving explosives or dangerous fireworks or a crime against property involving arson or other fire-related offense,” Cal Fire said in an email.

Where the investigation started and is headed

According to a former fireworks dealer who frequently purchased at the San Jose storage facility before the 2023 fire, Chee and Devastating Pyrotechnics supplied the vast majority of the fireworks sold there.

At the time of Gouge’s email suggesting that Cal Fire look at Devastating Pyrotechnics again, the company’s warehouse in Esparto had been in operation for about a year, in plain sight of local authorities.

The compound operated on the property of Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputy Sam Machado, who was paid more than $11,000 in rent by Chee, according an official, who did not wish to be identified because they are not authorized to comment, familiar with Devastating Pyrotechnics operations in Esparto.

The official said the Yolo County District Attorney’s criminal investigation into Esparto, now in its eighth month is scrutinizing how Chee accumulated his wealth.

Property records show Chee owned a $2.5 million home in San Francisco and in 2024, purchased another property for $2.5 million in the East Bay city of San Ramon with soaring ceilings and a luxury pool.

Missed opportunities?

The Bee previously reported that, following a seizure in Commerce, California of illegal fireworks stored in a warehouse, a lawyer for Chee attempted to clawback the explosives by telling the landlord that the company had the approval of the Yolo County Sheriff.

Newly released emails show that the company also similarly lobbied government regulators to release the seized fireworks, insisting they be allowed to be transported to Esparto.

The emails show that attorney Douglas Horngrad attempted to leverage Chee’s state licenses to try to reclaim hundreds of thousands of pounds of fireworks.

“We are legal counsel for Mr. Kenneth Chee and Devastating Pyrotechnics,” Horngrad wrote on May 28, days after an ATF and Cal Fire-led raid of the Commerce warehouse. The letter was addressed to the federal EPA, which was assisting Cal Fire in determining how to dispose of the large stockpile of fireworks.

“We are including current permits and licenses that demonstrate Devastating Pyrotechnic is duly authorized to possess the items in question. The plan is — and always has been — for Devastating Pyrotechnics to arrange transportation of the items from Commerce to the company’s warehouse facility in Esparto, California, located in Yolo County.

The letter was then forwarded to Cal Fire by the EPA.

Cal Fire and EPA rejected the request. About a month later, the Esparto compound exploded.

This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 5:00 AM.