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CPSC Warns Consumers and Sellers to Dispose of Dangerous Category: Pooled-Alcohol Fire Pots

CPSC Warns Consumers and Sellers to Dispose of Dangerous Category: Pooled-Alcohol Fire Pots

December 20, 2024

This week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a unilateral warning informing consumers not to buy or use fire pits meant to burn pooled alcohol or other liquid fuels.[1] This includes tabletop fire pits, fire pots, miniature fireplaces, or portable fires for indoor use.

These products have been linked to two deaths and at least 60 injuries in the past five years. Several of those injuries include third- and fourth- degree burns covering extensive areas of consumers’ bodies. They risk burning anyone around them through flame jetting—a hazard that occurs when a liquid-burning firepit is refilled in the presence of an open flame causing the fuel to ignite and shoot out of the container—and pool fires—flames that burn across the surface of pooled or spilled alcohol and suddenly produce larger, hotter flames that continue to spread.

The extreme dangers detailed in this warning are not unique to a singular company or product—the hazards are widespread across the entire product category.

When the data shows repetitive harm and dangers spread throughout a product category, CPSC can and must take action to warn the public. Issuing warnings of this magnitude about an entire product category is not a step taken lightly, but it is a fundamental duty of the Commission to protect the public from preventable harm. Families deserve to know about these dangers, and I am committed to ensuring that they have the information they need to stay safe. 

For more information on the dangers of liquid-burning fire pits, read the Consumer Alert.

 

Faithfully,

Commissioner Richard L. Trumka Jr.

 

FLIKRFIRE personal fireplaces, examples 


 

[1] Consumer Alert: Stop Using Alcohol or Other Liquid-Burning Fire Pits That Violate Voluntary Standards and Present Flame Jetting and Fire Hazards; Two Deaths and Dozens of Serious Burn Injuries Reported, (12/19/24), Consumer Product Safety Commission, (available at https://www.cpsc.gov/Warnings/2025/Consumer-Alert-Stop-Using-Alcohol-or-Other-Liquid-Burning-Fire-Pits-That-Violate-Voluntary-Standards-and-Present-Flame-Jetting-and-Fire-Hazards-Two-Deaths-and-Dozens-of-Serious-Burn-Injuries-Reported)

*The views expressed in this statement are solely the views of Commissioner Trumka and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission.

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