A liquid-burning firepit reportedly led to the death of a New Hampshire couple, while other incidents have injured dozens of other people.
Last Thursday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a consumer alert pointing to the popular portable liquid-burning firepits being a “hazard” to consumers. The products “violate the requirements in voluntary safety standard ASTM F3363-19,” the alert said.
“Stop using alcohol or other liquid-burning firepits that violate voluntary standards and present flame jetting and fire hazards,” the message from the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. “Consumers should immediately stop using and dispose of these products. Sellers should stop selling these products.”
In June, New Hampshire residents Herm and Thelma Stolzenburg were both engulfed in flames after a tabletop firepit shot out flames as they were sitting with family, CBS News reported, per People.
The couple, who were both 93, died a week later after the fire left them with severe third-degree burns, the outlet said.
“All of a sudden, these flames shot out and like a blow torch is all I describe it as. That totally took over both my parents’ bodies,” daughter Dee McEneaney told CBS affiliate WBZ-TV a month after her parents’ death.
The Stolzenburgs weren’t the only ones severely burned by the firepits. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said in its alert that there had been at least 60 injuries since 2019.
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CBS News said that Katelyn Little of Massachusetts also found herself engulfed in flames, but survived.
Little told WBZ-TV that after setting up the firepit, she had to jump into the nearby pool to put out the flames. She was hospitalized with second- and third-degree burns.
“I was there for a total of four days being treated by the burn unit with daily dressing changes and soaks and I didn’t get out of bed for four days. I couldn’t walk. It was just, it was horrible,” Little told the outlet.
On Oct. 17, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled close to 90,000 Colsen-branded firepits after dozens of people reported similar burn injuries.