Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill aimed at closing loopholes in California’s firework regulations in the wake of last year’s deadly explosion in Esparto.
Newsom announced the signing of SB 828, authored by West Sacramento State Senator Christopher Cabaldon, late on Sunday. Cabaldon introduced the bill last September, months after explosions rocked the Yolo County town on July 1, 2025, instantly killing seven people.
The law goes into effect Jan. 1, and marks the latest chapter of an ongoing tragedy that has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from workplace safety regulators, multiple investigations, and criminal indictments against eight people, five of whom face second-degree murder charges.
Cabaldon told CapRadio that while his district spans 3,000 square miles, “Esparto is not unfamiliar territory to me.”
“I think like so many people, it was unimaginable that such a facility even existed and that it could cause so much devastation,” he said, adding that the explosion rocked the community “to its core.”
Cabaldon said the scale of the problem became clear in the aftermath of the blast. “So many rules and regulations either weren’t being followed or didn’t apply properly, that allowed for some definitely unscrupulous and probably illegal behavior,” he explained.
“All the systems that we had in place to try to protect communities and protect people from losing their lives didn’t work.”
Expanded denial criteria, stricter applications
Multiple elements of the law appear to address issues that emerged in the wake of the tragedy.
Cabaldon’s legislation expands the Cal Fire Office of the State Fire Marshal’s (OSM) authority to deny fireworks license applications or renewals, and brings these policies in line with federal regulations.
Previous state regulations only allowed licenses to be denied if an applicant was convicted of an explosives or fireworks-related felony, or of an arson crime.
Licenses can now be denied for anyone convicted of a felony, indicted for a crime punishable by more than a year in prison, banned from handling explosives under federal law, or ineligible to receive a federal explosive license issued by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF.)
Kenneth Chee, the owner of Devastating Pyrotechnics — the main company implicated in the Esparto explosion — was not allowed to hold federal licenses because of a prior criminal conviction in the 1990s. Prosecutors have alleged the company’s federal license was obtained by another defendant, Gary Chan.
Chee was able to receive state fireworks licenses, which were later revoked by Cal Fire following the blast. Yolo County prosecutors said these licenses did not allow for the import or possession of explosives labeled 1.3G, which are professional-grade fireworks regulated by the ATF.
Additionally, Cabaldon’s bill requires anyone applying for a fireworks wholesale, manufacturing or import/export license to disclose the complete street address of all fireworks storage facilities in California on their application to Cal Fire. They must also notify local governments of these addresses.
The OSM must also notify local jurisdictions when a fireworks application is approved in their area.
Local inspections and other overhauls
The law also gives local fire officials the authority to inspect fireworks facilities and storage sites to ensure compliance. These local agencies will also be required to inspect these sites once every 12 months.
Firework importers and exporters must also notify the OSM about shipments of fireworks including estimated arrival dates, type, kind and quantity of fireworks, and the storage location. They will also no longer be allowed to ship firework kits as separate components.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office characterized the Esparto facility as a hub for an “illegal enterprise” that trafficked millions of pounds of black-market fireworks across Northern California for years.
Prosecutors say one million pounds of pyrotechnics, explosives and other devices were present when the explosion occurred. The fireworks operation was based out of an ag-exempt warehouse located on a property owned by two then-employees of the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office — Lieutenant Samuel Machado and his wife, Tammy Machado.
Yolo County acknowledged last August certain county employees knew about the fireworks storage years before the explosion happened, and that planning staff had noticed some pyrotechnics stored in shipping containers on the site in 2022 while conducting a site visit for the warehouse.
A civil lawsuit filed in July by the victims’ families accuse three staff members, as well as Esparto Fire Protection Chief Curtis Lawrence, of knowing about the fireworks storage as far back as 2021.
SB 828 also increases maximum penalties for violating local fireworks ordinances, expands the definitions of dangerous fireworks and fireworks kits, and requires license applicants to provide local fireworks permits to Cal Fire, among other changes.
Following the deadly explosions, Yolo County said the Esparto property was zoned agricultural, which does not allow for the storage or handling of fireworks or explosives. The county said no firework permits, licenses or approvals were issued for the property, and that fireworks businesses had been banned since 2001.
Yolo County Sheriff Tom Lopez said in April he had no knowledge of the illegal fireworks operation, and that his office recused itself from the Esparto case. A Yolo County civil grand jury wrote in March the sheriff’s office failed to enforce existing fireworks ordinances.
Born from tragedy
Cabaldon said SB 828 was necessary because it made a lot of small changes, such as increasing the fines for certain penalties from hundreds to thousands of dollars. He said “no single change” would have prevented the disaster.
The state senator also said the Esparto explosion happened in the context of a “statewide and global network” of fireworks and explosives trafficking, one he wasn’t aware of at the beginning.
Cabaldon said he initially believed that it was a lack of knowledge on the county level, and the OSM “taking the word” of the firework owners about having the proper permits. But he realized there were multiple information gaps that needed to be closed, and various reforms needed to be made.
He said the bill gives agencies, especially those in a small, rural community like Esparto, the tools to enforce regulations. “When you put them all together it’s the only way to make sure [to catch] that kind of international [and interstate] trafficking operation… not simply relying on a local fire district or a single deputy sheriff to catch illegal behavior,” Cabaldon said.
News of the bill’s signing drew support from local and state officials. In a statement, a Yolo County spokesperson told CapRadio the law “strengthens coordination between the State Fire Marshal and local jurisdictions by improving notification, permitting and oversight of fireworks activities.”
“As the County continues to support the Esparto community following last year’s tragedy, our focus remains on the work ahead and on thoughtful implementation of these new safeguards,” the county wrote.
Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry co-authored the bill. In a statement to CapRadio she said SB 828 “is about learning from what happened and making sure we do better going forward.”
“For Esparto, this is about making sure something like this doesn’t happen again because no community should be at risk of this kind of tragedy in the first place,” Aguiar-Curry wrote. “For the rest of California, it’s about preventing others from experiencing the kind of heartbreak that ours did.”
Looking ahead to the next legislative session, Cabaldon said lawmakers have only “scratched the surface” on explosives and fireworks safety, based on lessons learned on the ground in Yolo County. “SB 828 is not the end of the story,” he said. “There’s more work to be done.”
But he acknowledged any changes will still be too late for seven families.
“Their grieving — and our grieving — will continue; but what we wanted to assure [is] that the government learned its lesson from the tragedy, from the lives lost, the families and the communities devastated,” Cabaldon said.
“Real action and real reform would come; I’m proud that we’ve at least taken some significant steps forward to accomplish just that.”
