# @downinnadesert on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbMDKFfm84z
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68285933-downinnadesert-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/84af2dff30.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-24T20:00:02.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Down In The Desert🌵 (@downinnadesert) — https://gondola.cc/downinnadesert

## Caption

Their vacation ended with two kids on fire and a helicopter ride to the hospital.

The Petersen family from Chandler was roasting marshmallows at their condo in Oceanside when the tabletop fireplace on the table, a product called the FlikrFire, started shooting fireballs. Jon Petersen said a huge fireball came out of it and lit his son up “like a torch.” Two of the children caught fire and both were flown to the hospital. Eight-year-old Brock took the worst of it with second-degree burns to his face, neck and arms, and he spent 19 days in a burn ICU before he started to recover. The trip was their annual family vacation, with beach days and Legoland already behind them.

Here’s the part that should make you check your own patio. The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a stop-use warning on FlikrFire tabletop fireplaces in December 2024, about 18 months before the Petersens’ trip, after flame jetting killed an elderly couple and caused third and fourth degree burns in at least three other incidents. It never became a formal recall because FLIKR LLC went out of business and never agreed to a remedy, so nobody gets a refund. Across the whole category of alcohol-burning tabletop fire pits, the CPSC has counted two deaths and more than 60 injuries since 2019. These things run on rubbing alcohol poured into an open bowl, they look completely harmless with a small flame, and the flame is nearly invisible, which is exactly how people end up pouring fuel into one that’s still lit.

FlikrFire sold on Amazon and other major retailers from 2018 to 2024, between $35 and $105, in square, round, XL and mini. The Petersens are speaking out for one reason, which is that if you own one of these, throw it away. Go look at your patio. Do you have one of these sitting out there right now?

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#Arizona #Chandler #Phoenix #ProductSafety #FireSafety

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,831
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- **Comments:** 71

## Tags

firesafety, chandler, productsafety, arizona, phoenix

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