Hearth And Home Technologies

Burn cases turn up the heat on fireplace makers

In September, a family’s vacation in Wisconsin Dells turned tragic when an infant touched the glass front of a fireplace and suffered third-degree burns at a resort hotel.

Her father, Fred Stephens, says he had no idea the glass could get dangerously hot.

Lila Stephens, then 11 months old, was burned on the unprotected glass of the fireplace in the family’s room at the Kalahari Resort, her father says. Lila had skin grafted from her abdomen to both hands, and is making a good recovery.

Stephens, a probation officer from Little Canada, Minn., says he was “just devastated” by the accident, “and, I think, like any parent, horribly guilty that I allowed it to happen.”

Across the country, some parents of burned children, including Stephens, are going to court seeking compensation and improvements to gas fireplaces to protect from burns.

Manufacturers are being buffeted by lawsuits and the threat of federal regulation amid heightened concerns about the risk of burns from the glass fronts of the appliances, which can get hot enough to melt skin.

The new pressure stems from cases of children suffering third-degree burns from touching or stumbling into the glass panes. They are allowed by a voluntary industry standard to reach temperatures of up to 500 degrees.

More than 2,000 children ages 5 and younger suffered burn injuries from fireplace glass from 1999 to 2009, according to a federal estimate.

Among recent developments:

• The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which up to now has allowed the industry to police itself, in June took an initial step that could lead to government rules. Commissioners voted 5-0 to request public comments on two petitions — one proposing mandatory screens or other safeguards to prevent contact with fireplace glass, and the other to require use of a warning device to alert parents when the glass is dangerously hot.

• A federal judge in Oakland, Calif., approved a class action settlement requiring Lennox International, a top fireplace maker, to offer to send protective screens to more than 500,000 owners of its Lennox and Superior brand gas fireplaces. The company, which did not admit liability, also agreed to pay $4.93 million in fees and expenses to three law firms that filed the case.

The industry “is very serious about making sure that this issue becomes a non-issue” by finding a way to prevent burns, says Allan Cagnoli, director of government affairs for the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, an industry trade group.

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