Napa Home & Garden’s Exploding Firepots
Napa Home & Garden’s exploding firepots, known as its “Firelites” fireburner, is a potentially dangerous, exploding ceramic firepot that is injuring people across the United States. Napa Home & Garden, a Duluth, Georgia, family business owned by Jerry and KC Cunningham, sells its home and garden products – including the exploding firepot and Fuel Barons’ pourable gel fuel – through garden centers, independent retailers, catalog companies and chain stores throughout the country, including major retail stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, Home Depot, Sam’s Club, Shopko, and Restoration Hardware.
Exploding Ceramic Firepot Dangers
The Napa Home & Garden exploding firepots, which have been on the market since 2008, are decorative burning devices that serve to ward off insects through both the heat of its flame as well as the citronella-scented gel fuel that it burns. The Napa Home & Garden exploding firepot is comprised of a ceramic pot with a stainless steel cup in the middle that holds the gel fuel. Napa Home & Garden sells Fuel Barons’ pourable eco-gel fuel under its brand name. The pourable fuel gel is a gel poured into the firepot’s cup and then lit on fire. No wick is needed.
Fuel Baron’s pourable eco-gel fuel is advertised as “Planet Safe & People Safe.” Fuel Barons is a corporation based in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. More than 80% of its pourable gel consists of ethyl alcohol, a volatile, colorless liquid that is highly flammable and extremely dangerous. The pourable gel fuel burns with nearly invisible flame, so users may think the flame is out and refill the gel, when it is actually still burning. Adding fuel to an open flame can lead to serious burns and even death. However, the most vivid warning about the danger of adding more fuel to the ceramic firepots is printed on a piece of outer packaging that is shipped with the firepot but is commonly thrown away when the firepot is first opened.
CPSC Responds to Napa Home and Garden’s Exploding Firepots
The pourable gel fuel recall announced by the U.S. Comsumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), is based on its investigation into the exploding ceramic firepots that was first annouced on June 14, 2011. The CPSC already had received at least eight reports of explosions or burns involving firepots or fuel gel in addition to the 23 burns Napa Home & Garden reported to the CPSC. The CPSC’s announcement followed Napa Home & Garden’s June 12, 2011 announcement that it would issue a precautionary hold on sales of its gel burners and gel fuel in response to reports of injuries, and that Fuel Barons was conducting an investigation. Then, on June 22, 2011, the CPSC announced a voluntary Napa Home & Garden firepot recall on the Pourable NAPAfire and FIREGEL Gel Fuel bottles and jugs.
Taking Action Against Napa Home & Garden’s Exploding Firepot
The porcelain firepots and their pourable fuel gel have been exploding at alarming rates. Fire departments around the country are declaring these exploding gel firepots hazardous products. Dozens of people have reported serious injuries of second- and third-degree burns from exploding clay gel firepots, and some are in critical condition. The Napa Home & Garden exploding firepot lawyers at Chaffin Luhana LLP are standing by, ready to review your potential firepot lawsuit.
If you or a loved one has used a pourable Napa Home & Garden exploding firepot or firegel gel fuel and suffered injury, you should contact Chaffin Luhana LLP’s exploding firepot lawyers and gel fuel lawyers immediately for a free and confidential exploding firepot lawsuit case review today. You may be entitled to compensation, and the Napa Home & Garden exploding firepot lawyers at Chaffin Luhana can help. Call our toll free number today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation: 1-888-480-1123.