Chinese Made Propane Grills Recalled - Magnesium In Casing Starts Burning Causing Extreme Fires!

Was thinking about getting a Perfect Flame gas grill, and doing a little research, I guess not.

A major recall was announced on certain models of the grills, which are made in China. Apparently there is too much magnesium in the aliminium alloy that makes up the grill housing, and it catches fire!

Magnesium fires can be extremely hard to extinguish, using water on it will send balls of fire shooting out.

There's a surprising number of comments on this problem on the Consumer Reports website, here's one person's experience-

"Posted by: RON RONNEBERG | Aug 25, 2008 10:36:18 AM

SUNDAY EVENING 8/24/08
A PERFECT FLAME GRILL PURCHASED BY MY DAUGHTER FOR ME AT LOWES FOR A CHRISTMAS PRESENT CAUGHT ON FIRE. THE FIRE WAS OUT OF CONTROL AND ALMOST INVOLVED MY DECK AND HOUSE. HAVING HAD FIREFIGHTING TRAINING IN THE NAVY, I RECOGNIZED I WAS DEALING WITH A MAGNESIUM FIRE. TRYING TO EXTINGUISH THE FIRE WITH ABC EXTINGUISHERS WAS OF LITTLE HELP AND TRYING TO USE WATER ON A MAGNESIUM FIRE IS THE WRONG THING TO DO BUT IN AN EFFORT TO KEEP THE PROPANE TANK COOL AND EXTINGUISH SURROUNDING CLASS A MATERIAL I USED WATER CAUSING EXPLOSIONS WHEN WATER CONTACTED THE MAGNESIUM. I SUBSEQUENTLY SUFFERED BURNS TO MY EYES AND INHALATION OF MAGNESIUM FUMES. I AM MAD AS HELL THAT THE CHINESE ARE MANUFACTURING GOODS OUT OF MATERIALS THAT CAN CAUSE SUCH GRIEVOUS INJURY TO CONSUMERS AND FIREFIGHTERS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE HAD TRAINING IN FIGHTING CLASS D FIRES."

[link to blogs.consumerreports.org]

Just thought I'd post this because it's kind of an interesting distraction from all the political news of the day.