A federal agency is warning consumers about a phenomenon they need to know about in the height of grilling season. Under the right conditions, the ATF says "flame jetting" could turn a backyard fire pit or BBQ grill into a flamethrower. It happens in an instant. The effort to ignite or stoke a fire pit or BBQ, creating a fireball, essentially turning portable fuel cans into a device that spews flames. It’s happened at homes across the country with a tragic combination of factors triggering a terrifying and potentially deadly phenomenon. It’s called flame jetting.
Spotlight on America was given behind the scenes access to see how it happens, inside one of the burn rooms at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Fire Research Lab in Maryland. ATF began studying flame jetting just 10 years ago, after the death of a six-year-old girl in Michigan.