Amazon offered hearth pit that exploded over San Diego veteran: lawsuit

A tabletop hearth pit erupted right into a fireball explosion that left a California navy veteran catastrophically scarred, in response to a lawsuit filed Wednesday towards Amazon.

Anthony Trevino, a 31-year-old San Diego resident, sued the web market for promoting a faulty pit that erupted with out warning in a “flame jetting” explosion.

“I by no means imagined a product offered to me as ‘protected and simple’ would do that to me in my own residence,” mentioned Trevino, a former US Navy helicopter search-and-rescue swimmer.

“My complete life, my job was to drag folks out of hazard. I can’t undo what occurred to me, however I can maintain Amazon accountable to make sure they cease promoting merchandise which are so harmful they’ll alter the course of somebody’s life,” he added.

In response to the lawsuit, Trevino suffered third-degree burns throughout his face, neck and higher physique.

Photos present his total chest and arms in brown and pink, with presumably a few of his pores and skin flamed off. His face was not spared, and black markings may very well be seen on his neck.

The scarring is everlasting, the submitting alleges, and Trevino was within the hospital for weeks. He additionally suffered nerve injury that “have an effect on each a part of his day by day life.”

The grievance mentioned that Trevino bought a Colsen “Tabletop Rubbing Alcohol Out of doors Hearth Pit” from Amazon in February 2021, together with two bottles of medical-grade isopropyl alcohol. The itemizing allegedly marked the pit as “Straightforward & Secure to Use,” with the vendor assuring the product’s security.

In September 2025, Trevino was refilling the hearth pit on his house balcony and assumed the flame had gone out.

Nonetheless, alcohol flame is invisible when it burns low. So when Trevino poured the filler, the flame exploded, in response to the lawsuit, laborious sufficient that ornamental lighting and synthetic turf was melted.

Amazon ought to have identified of the risks, the lawsuit claimed. Such tabletop hearth pits had been banned in international locations like Australia and Canada, and the US Shopper Product Security Fee recalled round 89,500 Colsen-branded hearth pits in 2024.

Amazon allegedly despatched recall notices that solely warned the product “might not meet present security requirements” as a substitute of flagging the potential for extreme burns. The corporate nonetheless sells the damaging pits, claimed the lawsuit.

Trevino’s attorneys argued that Amazon will be unable to make use of the protection that it’s merely a distributor not accountable for merchandise offered resulting from a California ruling.

“Amazon decides what goes on its cabinets, takes a reduce of each sale they usually even instructed Anthony which gasoline to purchase,” mentioned lawyer Jeremy Robinson. “While you inventory the shelf and ring the register, you personal what occurs to the harmless folks whose lives are completely altered.”

The California Put up reached out to Amazon for remark.

---

Obtain The California Put up App, observe us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters