Company Halts Sales After Gel Candle Accident

Less than two weeks after a horrific accident put a local boy in the intensive care unit, owners of the product that caused the third-degree burns to his body and on at least one other man in the New York City area since then, put sales of the gel candle on hold on Friday. The incidents have hit national headlines over the past few days.

Michael Hubbard was while refilling a gel candle with three of his cousins. After the flammable gel, which operates without a wick, caught on the 14-year old's shirt and spread to his torso and face, the fire was extinguished only when neighbor Jerry Halpin – who likened the gel to napalm – ran over from next door with a fire extinguisher.

A similar incident occurred on June 3, in New York City.

John LaViolette recalled receiving a phone call that his stepson, Nick Stone, had been rushed to a hospital after he was involved in a similar incident.  Stone rolled on the floor of his outdoor deck, similar to Hubbard rolling on the ground of his uncle's backyard, to little avail. The substance stuck to Stone and as well as a blanket intended to smother the fire, and even the deck itself.

An article in the New York Times published last Friday detailed both incidents. Napa Home and Garden, the product's manufacturer, responded by halting sales of the product from the shelves of Bed Bath and Beyond, the retailer carrying the gel.

Good Morning America followed up with a segment on Monday morning which, for the first time since the May 28 incident, showed public images of Hubbard in his hospital bed at Stony Brook University Medical Center. The segment also showed a controlled experiment of over-filling the gel candle, resulting in a minor explosion of the flammable fluid.

LaViolette said the similarities between Stone and Hubbard don't end with the incidents themselves, and cautioned anyone using the gel candle or any similar product.

"Michael has almost the exact same burn pattern as Nick," he said. "Chest, inner arms, neck, partially their faces. And it's not a coincidence. If people think this isn't going to happen again, they're crazy."

After halting sales, the owners of Napa Home and Garden – Jerry and K.C . Cunningham – issued a statement on Sunday, saying, "we have been relying on the guidance of our fuel supplier to create the safety directions on our packaging ... In spite of all the warnings, which are as good or better that any others in the industry, we need to see what else we can do to make sure our products are safe and people know how to use them safely."