Families of six of the victims killed in last year's fireworks explosion in Esparto have filed a wide-ranging civil lawsuit against a host of agencies and individuals connected to the disaster.
The civil complaint was filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Thursday, and names more than two dozen defendants. It alleges that government officials knew for nearly four years that an illegal fireworks operation was running on rural farmland and repeatedly chose not to shut it down
These include the California Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) and State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant; Yolo County and three county employees; the Yolo County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Tom Lopez; and the Esparto Fire Protection District and Fire Chief Curtis Lawrence.
The suit also names the two fireworks companies at the center of the criminal case, Devastating Pyrotechnics and Blackstar Fireworks, as well as all eight people criminally charged in connection to the explosion.
These include Samuel Machado, the former Yolo County sheriff's lieutenant who owned the property through a family trust, and his wife, Tammy Machado, along with Devastating Pyrotechnics owner Kenneth Chee and Blackstar Fireworks owner Craig Cutright.
The explosion left seven people dead and started the 78-acre Oakdale Fire. It was felt in Woodland, Davis and Winters, about 20 miles away. Several neighboring landowners and family trusts are also plaintiffs, alleging their property was damaged or destroyed.
A photo of the Oakdale Fire taken July 1, 2025.Courtesy of the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit
The families are asking for money for their losses, punitive damages against several defendants, and for a judge to declare that the public agencies failed to follow required provisions of the law.
The suit lists 17 legal claims. Eleven of them, including negligence, fraud, nuisance and wrongful death, are aimed at the agencies, officials, property owners and fireworks companies. The other six accuse Devastating Pyrotechnics and Blackstar Fireworks of breaking California's wage and hour laws.
The filing is a separate matter from the ongoing criminal case, where five of the eight defendants — including Samuel Machado and Chee — face seven counts each of second-degree murder, among dozens of other charges.
Families had to file administrative claims with each agency before they could sue. The complaint says Yolo County denied those claims in late January and early February; and that the state, the fire marshal’s office and the Sheriff’s Office never responded, which the state counts as a denial under state law.
A Cal Fire spokesperson told CapRadio the agency “does not comment on pending litigation.”
A Yolo County spokesperson said the county is aware of the lawsuit. “Because this matter is now before the court, the County will respond through the legal process and will not comment further on pending litigation,” the spokesperson wrote.
The Yolo County Sheriff's Office also declined to comment, citing pending litigation. CapRadio also reached out to Esparto Fire Protection District for a statement.
This is not the first civil lawsuit filed over the explosion. The Yolo County-based Etta James Farming filed a lawsuit last July against Chee, Cutright and Samuel Machado, alleging the “unlawful and unpermitted commercial-grade fireworks operation” destroyed 74 acres of farmland, as well as farm equipment and other infrastructure.
First mentions of pyrotechnics
The complaint’s timeline starts in early 2021. Much of the information is cross-referenced in records and internal emails provided by Yolo County to CapRadio in August 2025, after county supervisors acknowledged that staff had known about fireworks storage in Esparto for years prior to the explosion.
On Feb. 1, 2021, according to the suit, Craig Cutright emailed Esparto Fire Chief Curtis Lawrence about expanding storage and handling of display and consumer fireworks on the property. Cutright allegedly claimed the operation complied with federal explosives rules and a national fire safety standard.
The suit says Cutright was a show producer for Devastating Pyrotechnics at the time; he would start Blackstar Fireworks in 2023. That same year, Cutright became a volunteer member of the Esparto Fire Protection District. The complaint says he resigned on July 4, 2025 — three days after the deadly explosion — though Cutright was still listed on the agency’s website as of July 24.
In September 2021 Cutright sent an email to county planning official Stephanie Cormier about his intent to store fireworks in shipping containers on roughly 40 acres at the end of County Road 23, where the Machado’s property was located.
After Cormier asked whether the Esparto Fire Protection had any oversight on requirements or restrictions, Cutright wrote that Lawrence “has no issues with the product at that location.” The suit says no information about zoning, safety plans or hazardous materials was provided.
Cormier then emailed Yolo County Chief Building Official Scott Doolittle asking if he could see any “red flags.” She asked whether Cal Fire needed to weigh in on the issue, “even though Curtis (allegedly) gave his blessing,” and whether permits would be required.
Doolittle wrote back that “fireworks specifically require a permit under the fire code.” The lawsuit says no such permit was ever issued.
Doolittle is named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit; Cormier is not.
Fireworks in an almond barn
The complaint devotes several pages to how the building at the site was approved, information also backed up by records provided by Yolo County to CapRadio.
The structure was first proposed as a facility for drying and preparing almonds, somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet. The county responded that a building that large would need sprinklers.
Matt Soderer, representing the Machados, then told Doolittle the building would instead be used to store farm equipment and dry almonds for about two months a year, and that no one working as a “paid worker,” would be inside the building “for any length of time.”
The permit that came through in January 2022 was for a 4,500-square-foot agricultural storage building, exempt from many commercial requirements, with no restrooms or running water. That August, a county land use survey submitted for the property stated the building would not handle or store hazardous materials, would not generate hazardous waste, and would have no hazardous materials containers on site.
A 2022 site plan document showing where the new agricultural storage building would be built on the Esparto property.Courtesy of Yolo County
The complaint alleges all of that was false and was meant to avoid inspections, fees, sprinklers, and the requirement to file a hazardous materials plan with the county — a document meant to tell firefighters what they would be walking into.
Soderer is a defendant in the civil lawsuit, and has not been criminally charged.
Red flags and inspections
In June 2022, an electrical inspection at the building failed, according to the complaint, because a 200-amp meter had been installed at a structure in an agriculture-exempt zone.
The suit cites a June 1 email from Doolittle, the county chief building official, who said ag-exempt buildings are only allowed to have “a very limited power supply” and the 200-amp service “is our first indicator that the use of the building is not consistent” with its permit. “This is a red flag that should be raised as soon as possible,” Doolittle added.
One day later Doolittle told Director of Community Services Leslie Lindbo — the second county employee named as a defendant — he had received a tip the property was being used to run a pyrotechnics business.
“Sheriff deputies, potentially including deputies we work with, are reported to be involved in the business,” Doolittle wrote, adding that they were using “an ag-exempt building plus 25 Conex boxes.” The building official wrote he would go gather information but would "tread lightly."
Hours later Doolittle confirmed that “there appear to be at least two businesses” on the parcel. One was the ag-exempt barn, which the other was described as a “pyrotechnics ‘home occ’” with 25 shipping containers used to store fireworks “used for large municipal fireworks displays.” Doolittle wrote that the occupant said the containers were currently empty, but he “did not verify that statement.”
Among the recipients of Doolittle’s update were Lindbo and Supervising Hazmat Specialist Moushumi Hasan — the third county employee named in the lawsuit.
Hasan told staff that if the facility handled new or waste fireworks above a certain level, they needed to submit a hazardous materials plan for Yolo County to review and approve. That documentation would need to be renewed annually, Hasan said, and the facility could be inspected at least once every three years.
Doolittle said he had spoken with Lawrence, the Esparto fire chief, “and he confirmed that the pyrotechnics business is licensed through the federal ATF.” Lawrence also reportedly told Doolittle the 25 containers were for the distribution of “safe and sane fireworks, while more dangerous materials were stored elsewhere.
The building official also said repacking or processing of these materials was done outdoors “to simplify the regulations they need to meet for their ATF license.”
“We will still be reaching out to get local regulations, but I expect cooperation from the pyro business,” Doolittle said.
The plaintiffs allege county staff stopped following up after that, though later internal emails referred to the facility as the "pyro site." In April 2023 the county issued a certificate of occupancy to the Machado’s family trust for the building, which was described as “commercial storage.”
Aerial photographs taken February 2022, November 2023 and June 2024 of the Esparto property where the fireworks facility was located. The construction of the new building is seen in the lower right of each image, along with added storage containers.Google Earth
Doolittle, Lindbo and Hasan are all accused of being aware of the “illegal operation” and improper use of the Esparto property, and failing to enforce identified issues and county ordinances.
The county has already pushed back on the underlying findings of a March civil grand jury report that alleged systemic inaction within Yolo County resulted in the disaster. In a 20-page response adopted in June, the Board of Supervisors said the grand jury blamed staff and elected officials based on speculation and an incomplete record, while agreeing to take up many of its practical recommendations.
Alleged workplace violations
The county approved the building in part on a statement that nobody would be paid to work in it. A handful of the lawsuit's claims are about the men who were.
Seven men died in the blast, all of whom were employees of Devastating Pyrotechnics:
- Christopher Goltiao Bocog, 45, of San Francisco
- Neil Justin Li, 41, of San Francisco
- Joel Jeremias Melendez, 28, of Sacramento
- Carlos Javier Rodriguez-Mora, 43, of San Andreas
- Jesus Manaces Ramos, 18, of San Pablo
- Jhony Ernesto Ramos, 22, of San Pablo
- Angel Mathew Voller, 18, of Stockton
Neil Li’s estate is the only one not listed among the plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit.
The Yolo County Coroner’s Office confirmed all seven died instantly of blast and thermal injuries. According to the complaints they were employed as laborers for periods ranging up to about two years. Jesus Ramos was on his first day on the job, working alongside his brother Jhony.
An eighth worker is also a plaintiff. Julian Voller, Angel Voller's brother, was employed by Devastating at the time of the explosion. The complaint says his car was destroyed in the blast. He is bringing wage claims alongside the estates of six of the men who died.
The complaint alleges the men were paid in cash at the end of every day. Because of that, it says, the companies never issued state-required wage statements, so the workers had no record of hours worked, gross or net pay, or hourly rate.
Family members stand before photographs of the seven men killed in a fireworks warehouse explosion during a vigil marking one year since the blast, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Esparto, Calif.Greg Micek/CapRadio
It further alleges the companies refused to pay minimum wage for every hour worked, required off-the-clock work, rounded time to the quarter hour, and altered time records. The suit says the men routinely missed required meal and rest breaks, weren't allowed to leave the worksite during breaks, and were sometimes told to record breaks they had not taken. It alleges the companies never paid the premiums state law requires when breaks are missed.
The complaint also alleges that when the men's employment ended — for seven of them, when they were killed — wages they had earned were still unpaid, and remain unpaid.
Regarding working conditions, the suit alleges there was no safety equipment, no training, no protective clothing or masks, no sprinklers or adequate fire suppression, improper ventilation and no signage, and that explosives and chemicals were stored improperly. It alleges the two companies worked together to hire immigrant and minority workers for dangerous work in substandard conditions.
A makeshift memorial to the seven men killed in a fireworks warehouse explosion stands in the Dollar General lot on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Esparto, Calif. Friends and family members gathered nearby for a vigil marking one year since the blast.Greg Micek/CapRadio
California workplace safety regulators issued 15 citations and $221,000 in fines to Devastating Pyrotechnics and its successors in December. The complaint notes that plaintiffs have not yet received a full Cal/OSHA report.
Other defendants
Two other individual defendants are listed in the civil suit, both of whom have previously-reported connections to the Esparto incident but have not been criminally charged.
Reiko Matsumura is a former Yolo County sheriff’s deputy, and the sister of Tammy Machado. Their late father, Jerry Matsumura, was a former fire commissioner with the Esparto Fire Protection District and known within the community for staging fireworks shows. He is also identified in the lawsuit and the March civil grand jury report of being a business partner of Chee — the owner of Devastating Pyrotechnics.
The plaintiffs accuse Reiko Matsumura of being a "participant and co-conspirator” in the fireworks businesses. The suit says she allegedly accepted shipments of fireworks at her home on the property adjacent to the Machados, and benefited financially from the businesses despite knowing of their illicit nature.
Plaintiffs also say Matsumura and the Machados used their employment with the sheriff’s office to prevent law enforcement from taking action against the fireworks operations. Matsumura was put on unrelated disability leave before the explosion, and subsequently retired in September 2025.
Johnny Chek is also listed among the defendants. He is identified as a fireworks importer and the operator of a storage facility in the Southern California city of Commerce, which was raided by Cal Fire and federal investigators on May 21, 2025 — just over a month before the Esparto explosion.
Cal Fire officials said at the time the raid netted over 100,000 pounds of illegal fireworks, though the complaint says the OSFM has sometimes cited up to 500,000 pounds seized.
Officers from Cal Fire and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) with seized fireworks following a raid in Commerce May 21, 2025. Cal Fire says the raid seized over 100,000 pounds of illegal fireworks.Courtesy of Cal Fire Office of the State Fire Marshal
Most of those fireworks are alleged to have belonged to Devastating Pyrotechnics, and the suit accuses Chek of having a “working relationship” with Chee, and that the former possessed illegal fireworks at the Esparto site.
A Sacramento Bee investigation found Devastating Pyrotechnics tried to claw back fireworks seized in Commerce, citing close ties with the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office.
What happens next
The public agencies named in the civil suit have not responded to the complaint, and have 30 days from being served to file a response. The criminal case is on a separate track: seven of the eight defendants charged in the explosion are due in Yolo County Superior Court on July 30.
