Colsen has issued a recall for about 89,500 fire pits. The company says there is a risk of serious burn injuries from flames jetting from the pit and spreading fire.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has received 31 reports of flame jetting and flames escaping from the concrete container, resulting in 19 burn injuries.
Two incidents resulted in third-degree burns to more than 40% of victims’ bodies, and at least six incidents have involved surgery, prolonged medical treatment, admission to burn treatment facilities, short-term disability, loss of function, physical therapy, or permanent disfigurement.
The CPSC says alcohol flames can be invisible and lead to flame jetting when refilling the fire pit reservoir. Flame jetting is a serious event that can occur while pouring alcohol, when fire flashes back to the alcohol container and suddenly propels burning alcohol out of the container and onto people nearby.
Alcohol can also splash, spill or leak out of the fire pit reservoir during use, causing a flash fire that can spread and create larger, hotter flames that can escape the unit.
Use of the recalled fire pits can lead to injury quickly and unexpectedly, causing burns in less than one second that can be serious and deadly.
This recall involves Colsen-branded indoor/outdoor tabletop fire pits. The fire pits consist of a concrete, open reservoir intended to contain burning liquid alcohol. There are seven models of Colsen-branded fire pits varying in size from 5 to 18 inches wide. The fire pit models are gray or black in color and are round, rectangular, hexagonal, square, or skull-shaped. The fire pits are sold with a flame extinguisher with the “Colsen” brand printed on it.
The fire pits were sold online at Colsenfirepits.com and Amazon.com, Wayfair, Walmart, Sharper Image, FlipShop, Grommet, Meta, TikTok from January 2020 to July 2024 for between $40 and $90.
What to do
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled fire pits and dispose of them. Do not resell or donate them. It is a violation of federal law to sell or distribute recalled products.
The firm stopped selling Colsen-branded fire pits less than one year after it acquired the product business and does not have the financial resources to offer a remedy to consumers.