{"id":425844,"date":"2026-08-06T23:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425844\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T23:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:14:11","slug":"former-navy-swimmer-suing-amazon-over-3rd-degree-burns-from-ethanol-fire-pit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425844\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Navy swimmer suing Amazon over 3rd-degree burns from ethanol fire pit"},"content":{"rendered":"

A San Diego man who suffered third-degree burns from a portable ethanol burner called a \u201ctabletop fire pit\u201d is suing the company manufacturer and Amazon, saying that they intentionally sold defective devices and failed to warn that there was an explosion risk.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court, says that Amazon and fire pit manufacturer Colsen had a duty of care to warn customers about this known danger. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Colsen Fire Pit was in a dangerous and defective condition when introduced into the stream of commerce by the Defendants,\u201d said the complaint. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Colsen Fire Pit was so defective that when used in a way that was reasonably foreseeable, the potential risks of the Colsen Fire Pit created a substantial danger to users of the Colsen Fire Pit and others and could and would cause those serious injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Trevino, 31, bought the fire pit device in 2021. In 2025, he was using it on his balcony when the fire pit exploded, the lawsuit said. The jet of flame hit him directly in the face and body, leaving him with massive burns and subsequent scarring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed the flame jet was so hot and powerful that it melted one of the decorative lights that Plaintiff had out on his balcony, charred part of the balcony fencing, and melted some of the artificial grass on the bottom of the balcony,\u201d the complaint said.<\/p>\n

In 2024, that exact model was recalled<\/a> \u201cdue to risk of serious burn injury from flame jetting and fire spreading hazards.\u201d In December 2024, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission\u00a0put out an alert<\/a>\u00a0for all such devices, saying that such fire pits violate voluntary safety standards and had resulted in at least two deaths and multiple burn injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, ethanol\/bioethanol, and similar liquid fuels burn with flame temperatures over 1,600\u00b0F and can cause third degree burns in less than one second,\u201d said the recall notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hazardous alcohol or other liquid-burning fire pits are sold by many retailers and e-commerce sites.\u00a0CPSC urges consumers to immediately stop use and dispose of these alcohol or other liquid-burning fire pits, and for sellers to stop selling them.\u201d <\/p>\n

The agency also linked to a video<\/a> demonstrating the phenomenon.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit says that Amazon did send recall notices to customers, but the complaint alleges it warned only that the product \u201cmay not meet current safety standards\u201d \u2014 not that it could potentially explode, causing third-degree burns.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The Ontario Fire Marshal\u2019s office produced a video to warn consumers about the dangers of flame-jetting from ethanol-fuelled fire pits, using a mannequin and a tabletop fire pot. (Image courtesy Ontario Fire Marshal)<\/p>\n

At the heart of Trevino\u2019s injuries was a phenomenon known as \u201cflame jetting<\/a>,\u201d essentially a sudden, very hot, and sometimes explosive flash fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue with these little tabletop fire pits is that they burn pure alcohol, which has a flame that is very hard to see,\u201d said Jeremy Robinson<\/a>, an attorney who is representing Trevino. <\/p>\n

That means it\u2019s possible to assume the fire pit has run out of fuel when it is still alight.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when you start start pouring fuel into it creates this flame jetting which is sort of a flamethrower effect\u2026 Which can lead to tremendously gruesome injuries.\u201d <\/p>\n

The flame-jetting issue is so potentially severe and dangerous that it led to bans of the portable ethanol burners in Australia<\/a> and Canada<\/a>, Robinson added. <\/p>\n

In June, two children and an adult were\u00a0badly burned<\/a> in Oceanside when a similar device exploded while the children were roasting marshmallows<\/a> over it. <\/p>\n

Trevino has already dealt with months of recovery and has been unable to work, but has years of recovery ahead of him \u2014 which could potentially be very painful, Robinson said. The lawsuit seeks monetary compensation for loss of earnings and medical expenses and other issues related to the burns. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been able to return to work to some degree but he\u2019s got a lot of scarring that\u2019s esssnetially going to be permanent, and a lot of pain from that because it\u2019s third degree burns\u2026 it\u2019s extremely painful,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cHe\u2019s a tough guy and he\u2019s a very inspiring person in terms of his resolve and his ability to hold things together\u2026 he\u2019s doing the best he can.\u201d <\/p>\n

His attorneys say they hope to raise awareness of the dangers inherent in ethanol burners while they pursue Amazon, as well as manufacturers Colsen and Gusar. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t any warnings on the products,\u201d said Robinson. \u201cThe point we\u2019re really trying to get across is how dangerous these things are \u2014 they don\u2019t come with any warnings. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to understand if they have these types of products, they should get rid of them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A San Diego man who suffered third-degree burns from a portable ethanol burner called a \u201ctabletop fire pit\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[8487,169738,169739,1846,74,76,75,169740],"class_list":["post-425844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-amazon","tag-anthony-trevino","tag-ethanol-burner","tag-lawsuit","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-tabletop-fire-pit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}