BOISE — After watching a video of a gender reveal gone wrong, in which an exploding target quickly ignited a wildfire, the House Resources and Conservation Committee agreed to pass a bill that would ban the use of such targets on all of Idaho’s public lands.

“I just wanted you to see how quickly those fires can start,” said Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum. “The use of these devices has caused catastrophic fires that have endangered lives, burned hundreds of thousands of acres and cost millions of dollars.”

The committee voted 10-7 to send the bill to the full House. It has already received approval from the Senate and now heads to the floor for a vote. If it passes there, it needs the governor’s signature to become law.

Stennett’s bill, SB 1178, would ban explosive targets on all public lands in Idaho; it doesn’t apply to private property or any permitted or government-approved shooting range. If passed, it would bring Idaho in line with federal laws prohibiting exploding targets during the fire season of May 10 to Oct. 20.

The proposed legislation classifies the crime as a misdemeanor and reiterates a judge’s discretion for the terms of sentencing and cost recovery for damages, plus community service to repair damages.

This comes after the Sharps Fire in Blaine County, caused by an exploding target, burned through more than 60,000 acres of public land last summer, leading to $10 million in expenses.

Rep. Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett, spoke in opposition to the bill, expressing concern with what bans it might lead to in the future.

”We are pretty well surrounded by rangeland where I live, and at some point in time there is no cure for poor choices,” Blanksma said. “I’m concerned about going down this road, and I’m wondering if your next intention is to outlaw smoking during fire season, outlaw the use of lighters during fire season, outlaw the use of ATVs. ... Arson is already illegal, so I just kind of wondered how far down this path you want to go.”

Stennett said although she had that discussion when drafting the bill, the issue was brought to her by the Idaho Department of Lands and the Idaho Office of Emergency Management, which said these fires have become much more common in recent years.

”They felt that the explosive targets were actually becoming, because of their amount of ignition and how hot they are, that they were actually more dangerous,” Stennett said. “This raised it to a higher caliber than somebody simply throwing a match out the window.”