The tabletop firepits were a popular product, but a lot of them have been recalled because they can malfunction or explode.
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Tabletop firepits are small, convenient and designed to bring some ambiance to your kitchen table.
They have become a popular household item, but recently, many of them have been recalled. The firepits can malfunction or explode, leaving several people seriously injured or dead.
One of those burn victims is Natalie Lowden.

In early February, Natalie was at a friend’s house that had one of the tabletop fire pits. Brad Davis bought it from a company called “Flikr Fire” several years prior.
This particular fire pit is filled with a high percentage rubbing alcohol. Davis had used it many times with no problems, but this night something went terribly wrong.
“I was sitting in the kitchen at the kitchen island where the ‘Flikr Fire’ fire pit was lit and I heard this popping sound and it just exploded and came towards me,” Lowden said. “I tasted rubbing alcohol…. it’s the first thing I remember and knowing immediately that I was on fire.”
Davis was the only other one home at the time.
“I turned around to walk down the hall to the restroom and just as I turned, I just remember hearing and feeling this ‘Wooosh’ sound,” Davis said “I spun around and I just saw Natalie covered in flames from her waist up. She was screaming, of course.”
Davis then led Natalie to his voice, grabbed her coat and tackled her in an attempt to smother the flames.
“It was just shocking. It was so fast and so engulfing; nothing made sense,” Davis said as he held back tears.

Natalie was rushed to the Burn Center at CU Anschutz. She had second- and third-degree burns on 19% of her body.

“I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know how bad…once they wrapped me up in all the bandages is when I saw myself and it was terrifying…I thought I would never look the same,” Lowden said.

Credit: Natalie Lowden
Natalie has had four skin graft surgeries so far, with two more planned for this year and five scheduled for next year.