Tabletop Fire Pit Lawsuit for Flame-Jetting and Explosion Burns

If a tabletop fire pit flame-jetted or exploded and burned you, you may have a product liability claim against the companies that made and sold it.

Most of these fire pits burn rubbing alcohol or bioethanol in an open bowl, and the flame can be close to invisible.

Add fuel while any of it is still burning and the fire can flash back into the bottle, throwing burning liquid onto the person pouring and anyone nearby.

In December 2024 the Consumer Product Safety Commission told the public to stop using fire pits that burn pooled alcohol, whatever the brand, after two deaths and at least 60 injuries since 2019.^[1]

We review burn claims of every severity, from first-degree burns to skin grafts and fatal fires, whether the fire pit came from Amazon, Walmart, or another store.

Call (888) 713-6653 for a free review of your fire pit burn. You don't pay unless we recover.

You do not need the receipt, the box, or a recall notice to ask for a review. The person who bought the fire pit does not have to be the person who was burned, and a guest who was standing at the table can bring a claim too.

Why Alcohol Fire Pits Explode When Someone Adds Fuel

Flame jetting happens when a fire pit is refilled while any flame is still present. A small flame left in the bowl is hard to see, especially outdoors in daylight. It ignites the fuel as it pours, the fire flashes back into the bottle, and the burst throws burning alcohol out toward whoever is holding the bottle or sitting close.

The second hazard is a pool fire. Fuel that spills or leaks during use catches and spreads across the table, the deck, or a person's clothing, and it keeps burning wherever it lands.

Both hazards produce severe burns fast. Burning alcohol can cause a third-degree burn in less than one second, and CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka noted that some of the injuries reported to the agency were third- and fourth-degree burns.^[2]

Flame jetting and pool fires happen during ordinary use, which is why the CPSC warning covers the design of the whole category. A burn that happened during a refill is the hazard the agency described, which matters when the defense tries to make the refill the whole story.

CPSC Recalls and Warnings for Colsen, FLIKRFIRE, Rozato, and Houswise Fire Pits

The December 2024 alert covers fire pits that burn pooled alcohol as a category. Before and after it, the CPSC acted on individual brands, and almost none of those companies offered owners a remedy.

Your fire pit does not have to appear in this table. The category alert applies to the design, and a brand the CPSC never named can carry the same defect.

A warning with no recall leaves no refund program and often no company standing behind the product, which is why these claims so often turn on who else sold, shipped, or listed the fire pit.

Can You Sue Amazon or Walmart for a Fire Pit Burn?

You can name the retailer in most states, and whether Amazon counts as a retailer depends on where the case is filed. A product liability claim reaches every company in the chain of distribution: the manufacturer, the importer or distributor, and the store that sold the product. Walmart, Wayfair, and several department stores appear on the CPSC's lists of where these fire pits were sold.

Amazon is harder because many fire pits on its site are listed by outside sellers and only stored and shipped by Amazon, and courts have split on whether that makes Amazon a seller. In Bolger v. Amazon.com, a California appeals court held that Amazon could be strictly liable for a replacement laptop battery, listed by a Hong Kong seller and shipped through Amazon's fulfillment program, that exploded and severely burned the buyer.^[7] The Texas Supreme Court reached the opposite result in Amazon.com v. McMillan, holding that Amazon is not a seller under Texas law of a third-party product it never held title to.^[8]

Several states shield a store that only resold a product, then lift the shield when the manufacturer is insolvent or beyond the court's reach, which describes many of the brands behind these fire pits. Texas's innocent-seller rule works that way.

A San Diego lawsuit filed in 2026 shows how these claims are being brought. A Navy veteran who bought a Colsen fire pit on Amazon in 2021 says it exploded into a fireball as he added fuel in September 2025, a year after the recall, leaving third-degree burns, skin grafts, and permanent scarring. His complaint names Amazon beside Colsen Fire Pits and Gusar, LLC, and alleges that Amazon's recall notice told buyers only that the product may not meet current safety standards.^[9]

The same fire pit, bought from the same listing, can leave Amazon in the case in one state and out of it in the next. Before we name anyone, we look at where the burn happened and where the case can be filed.

Save the order confirmation and a screenshot of the listing now, because seller storefronts and product pages change or disappear.

Why the Open-Bowl Design Makes Alcohol Fire Pits Defective

A product liability claim asks whether the product was defective and whether the defect caused the injury. In most states it does not require proof that the company was careless, which is the core of strict liability for defective products.

The design claim is usually the strongest. ASTM F3363-19, a voluntary safety standard for these products, exists to prevent flame jetting and pool fires, and the CPSC has said that fire pits requiring you to pour alcohol into an open container and light it in the same spot violate it. Following a voluntary standard is optional, and a jury can still use it as the industry's own measure of a safe design.

The warning claim asks what the label and the manual told you about refueling and about a flame you cannot see, and whether any warning could have made this design safe to use. A manufacturing claim covers a unit that departed from its own design, such as a cracked bowl or a reservoir that leaked burning fuel.

When the Defense Blames the Person Pouring the Fuel

Expect the manufacturer to argue that whoever was pouring caused the fire. Most states reduce a recovery by the injured person's percentage of fault, many cut it off entirely at 50 or 51 percent, and a handful bar recovery for any fault at all, so the argument carries real money. Our chart of how each state divides fault shows which rule applies where you were hurt.

The answer starts with the CPSC's own finding that a burning flame in these products can be too small to see.

Refueling is how these fire pits are used. A product that can only be refilled safely by someone who can see an invisible flame was designed to fail at the one task its owner repeats every time it is lit.

Keep the Fire Pit, Even Though the CPSC Says to Throw It Away

The CPSC tells owners to throw these fire pits away. If one burned you or your family, keep it instead: empty, unlit, and stored where nobody can use it, until your lawyer arranges an inspection.

• Keep the fire pit and its lid or snuffer. The bowl, the reservoir, and any cracks or scorch marks show how the fuel escaped.
• Keep the fuel bottle. The brand, the size, and whether anything at the spout could stop a flame from entering all bear on how the fire flashed back.
• Save the order and the listing. The confirmation email, the seller's name, and a screenshot of the product page belong in the file before the listing changes.
• Keep every recall or safety email. A notice from Amazon or the seller, or the absence of one, can matter to the warning claim.
• Photograph the burns as they heal. Dated photos from the first day through grafting and scarring show what the medical records describe in clinical terms.
• Keep your hospital and burn center paperwork. Admission notes record how deep the burns went and what percentage of the body they covered.

If a seller, a manufacturer, or an insurer asks to collect the fire pit, say no until your lawyer sets the terms of any inspection.

How Much Is a Tabletop Fire Pit Burn Lawsuit Worth?

A fire pit burn case is valued on the injury first: how deep the burns went, how much of the body they covered, and where they landed. Burns to the face, hands, and airway weigh more because they affect sight, grip, breathing, and the way a person is seen by everyone they meet.

Skin grafts raise the value, and so do the surgeries that follow them. Burn scars tighten as they heal, contracture releases and revisions can continue for years, and a fair number accounts for the reconstruction a burn surgeon expects to do later as well as the care already given. A life care plan puts a price on that future care.

The factors that move value most in these cases:

• Depth and body surface area. Third- and fourth-degree burns and large burned areas mean longer hospital stays and more surgery, and serious burn claims are valued on those two measures first.
• Grafts and donor sites. Each graft leaves a second wound where the skin was taken.
• Visible scarring. Facial and hand scarring raise the compensation for scarring and disfigurement, which many states treat as its own element of damages.
• Inhalation injury. Burns to the airway can leave lasting lung damage.
• Lost income and earning capacity. Hand burns in particular can end a career that depends on grip or fine motor work.
• The emotional injury. Nightmares, anxiety around fire, and the strain of living with a changed appearance are part of the claim.

The other half of value is who can pay. A claim against a brand with no assets and no U.S. presence is worth what can be collected, so identifying the store, the platform, the importer, and their insurers early changes what the case can recover. Recoveries in comparable cases are collected on our page about burn injury settlement values, and every one of them turned on facts like these.

Wrongful Death Claims When a Fire Pit Explosion Takes a Life

The CPSC has tied these fire pits to deaths, including an elderly couple who died in June 2024 after a third person tried to refill a FLIKRFIRE that looked like it had gone out.

When a burn is fatal, the family can bring a wrongful death claim for the loss of the person, and in most states the estate can also bring a survival claim for what the person endured before death. The same strict liability rules apply as in any wrongful death case caused by a defective product, and state law decides who can file.

A wrongful death deadline usually runs from the date of death. A short call protects the claim even if your family is not ready to decide anything, and we can meet you at home or at the hospital.

How Long Do You Have to File a Fire Pit Burn Lawsuit?

The deadline depends on the state where you were burned. Many states allow two years from the injury for a product liability claim, Tennessee allows one, and some allow longer.

Several rules move the clock. In most states a child's deadline is paused until adulthood, some states start the clock when the injury was discovered, and statutes of repose in a number of states cut off claims a set number of years after the product was first sold. Our chart of the injury filing deadline in every state lists the general rule where you live.

The evidence runs out sooner than the deadline. Seller accounts close, listings come down, and owners throw fire pits away on the CPSC's advice, so an early call protects the proof as well as the filing date.