He never imagined an innocuous bottle of gel would explode into a stream of sticky fire that scorched his wife, 9-year-old daughter and sister-in-law.
Rob McCutcheon of Omaha said it took less than a second for a gathering on his back deck to turn into “instant terror” when he refilled a ceramic firepot with fuel, and flames erupted.
The McCutcheons were all treated at the Nebraska Medical Center after the June 3 incident.
“It was almost like napalm,” McCutcheon said. Wherever the jellylike flame hit, it stuck, he said.
The pots and their gel fuel are drawing safety concerns locally and nationally.
The Omaha Fire Department issued a warning Monday that people should use “extreme caution” with the pots because of a potential fire and explosion hazard.
Six people, including McCutcheon and his family, have been treated at the medical center this month for injuries tied to the firepots.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it had received eight reports of explosions or burns, several of them serious, involving firepots or fuel gel since April 2010, not counting several recent cases in New York.
A spokesman for the commission said it was opening an investigation nationally into what is a relatively new type of product.
The firepots, available at home supply and other stores, have no wick. The flame comes from the gel.
Mulhall's Nursery in Omaha received an email on Monday from the company that supplies its pots and fuel gel. The email requested that retailers temporarily stop selling the products as a precaution, said Dan Mulhall, an owner.
He said his store complied with the request.
Mulhall's started selling the firepots about three years ago, and they have been growing in popularity because they provide a flame without being smoky, he said.
Dr. Debra Reilly, medical director of the burn center at the medical center, said that before refilling the pot with fuel, it's essential to make sure the flame is out and the pot is cool to the touch.
The problems for the McCutcheon family started when the flame went out on one of the pots on their deck.
When McCutcheon went to pour more gel fuel into the pot before relighting it, the plastic bottle exploded out of his hands like a “flamethrower,” he said.
He grabbed his daughter, Holly, and rolled with her on the deck, burning his hand as he tried to snuff out the flames.
Father and daughter, McCutcheon's wife, Kimberely, and sister-in-law Jamie Perez were taken to the medical center for treatment.
Holly had second-degree burns to her right arm and leg and was kept at the hospital overnight.
His wife's leg and stomach were burned, and both of his sister-in-law's legs were scorched.
McCutcheon thought the product was safe.
“There weren't a lot of directions on the bottle, other than not pouring it on an open flame,” he said. “It was a very violent event. I would tell people not to use them (ceramic firepots with fuel gel) ... It's too dangerous.”
This report contains material from the New York Times.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1122, michael.oconnor@owh.com
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