What Causes Gas Grill Fires and Propane Tank Explosions?

By Prosper Shaked, Florida personal injury attorney. Published: November 14, 2024. Last reviewed: October 23, 2026.

The same few hazards run through the fire figures and the safety guidance on gas grills: gas escaping from a leak, grease that catches fire, and a flame nobody is watching. Propane tank fires and explosions involve the parts between the tank and the burners (the valve, the regulator and the hose) or a tank that was overfilled, overheated or damaged. Gas grills were involved in an average of 9,235 home fires a year from 2020 to 2024, counting fires outside the house as well as inside, according to NFPA Research. When a defect in the grill, the tank or one of its parts caused the fire, Florida law can hold the companies behind it responsible, and in my experience what you keep and photograph after the fire matters as much as anything else, because a missing piece is what the other side will blame.

Key terms

What causes gas grill fires?

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Gas leaks. Propane is heavier than air, so gas escaping from a loose connection or a worn valve can collect around the grill and ignite when the burner lights. Leaks or breaks caused 6 percent of gas grill structure fires and 13 percent of outside gas grill fires in NFPA’s 2020 to 2024 figures.

Grease buildup. Fat collects in the drip tray and under the grates, and at high heat it can catch fire. NFPA found the grill had not been cleaned in 20 percent of grill fires.

A failed regulator. A faulty regulator can let gas escape, or let it reach the burners at a higher pressure than intended, creating a fire or burn hazard. Grill regulators have been recalled for fire and burn hazards.

Hoses and connectors. Hoses can crack, turn brittle or develop holes, especially near hot surfaces or dripping grease, and a connector that does not seal lets gas escape.

Leaving the grill unattended. A flare-up can turn into a fire when nobody is watching. NFPA’s grilling safety tips are plain about it: never leave a lit grill unattended.

What makes a propane tank fail?

A grill tank holds propane as a liquid under pressure. A tank can fail because of how it or its valve was designed or made. Apart from that, and the valve, regulator and hose described above, four conditions raise the risk.

• Overfilling. Liquid propane expands as it warms. A tank filled with no room left for that expansion can build pressure until the relief valve opens and releases gas. In 2002 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that, from April 1 of that year, only tanks with an overfill prevention device would be sold or refilled nationwide. A tank whose valve handle is triangular, with three lobes, has the device; a five-prong handle marks an older tank without it.
• Heat. The CPSC warns never to keep a filled tank in a hot car or trunk, because heat raises the pressure, which may open the relief valve and let gas escape.
• Storage. Keep tanks upright. The CPSC warns never to bring one into the house and never to store a spare under or near the grill.
• Age and damage. Every tank is stamped with the month and year it was made. Under federal rules, a typical grill tank can generally go 12 years from that date before its first requalification, the periodic inspection a tank must pass to keep being refilled, and must be requalified on a schedule after that, and a tank that is due should not be refilled until it passes. A tank that leaks, or is corroded, dented or bulging enough to weaken it, has to be requalified before it is refilled. 49 C.F.R. §§ 180.205(c), 180.209.

How do you prevent a grill fire or tank explosion?

1. Test for leaks before the first use each year and after the grill has been stored. With the tank valve open and the burners off, brush soapy water on the hose, the regulator and the connections. Bubbles mean a leak: close the tank valve right away and have the grill serviced before using it again. If gas keeps escaping, leave the area and call the fire department.
2. Clean the grease. Remove the grease and fat from the grates and the trays below them.
3. Open the lid before lighting, so gas does not collect under it. If the flame goes out, turn the grill and the gas off and wait at least five minutes before relighting it.
4. Use the grill outdoors, away from the house. Keep it clear of walls, deck railings, eaves and overhanging branches, and keep children and pets at least three feet away.
5. Never leave a lit grill. If you have to step away, turn the burners and the tank valve off.
6. Check the hose. Look for cracks, brittleness, holes and leaks, make sure it has no sharp bends, and keep it away from hot surfaces and dripping grease.
7. Look at the date on the tank before a refill. If it is due for requalification, or it is dented, rusted or damaged, have it requalified or exchange it.
8. Keep tanks upright and out of the heat. Never bring one into the house, never store a spare under or near the grill, and never leave a filled tank in a hot car.

What should you do after a grill fire or propane explosion?

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If there is still a fire or you smell gas, get everyone away and call 911 from a safe place. Do not move a leaking tank or go near it to take pictures. Once the area is safe, get medical care first, then work through the rest as soon as you can.

1. Get medical care for burns first. Have every burn seen by a doctor, even one that looks minor, and follow up. The records also document the burn injury from the start.
2. Photograph everything before anything is moved. Take pictures of the grill, the tank, the regulator, the hose and the area around them from every side, close up and from a distance, before anyone touches, cleans or moves anything. Photograph the labels and the date stamped on the tank.
3. Keep every piece, and keep it safe. Keep the grill, the tank, the regulator, the hose, the knobs and any burned or broken parts, together, in a safe place where nothing can happen to them and nothing about them can change. Don’t let the manufacturer, the store or an insurance company take any of it, even “for investigation.” In the cases I handle, my client keeps the product and the other side is given the chance to inspect it there. Keep everything, not just the part you think failed. When a piece is missing, the company can blame that piece: if the tank was defective but the grill was thrown out, the defense will say the grill caused it, and that is much harder to answer.
4. Do not repair it, test it or take it apart. A well-meant repair can erase the evidence. Any inspection or testing should happen with the other side present.
5. Ask for the fire department’s report. If firefighters came, ask the department for its report and write down the date and the report number.
6. Gather the paper. Keep the receipt, the manual, the box and the warranty, and write down where and when the tank was last filled or exchanged. If a part was ever replaced, keep that receipt and the name of whoever installed it.

When is a grill fire someone else’s fault?

When a defect caused the fire, a defective product claim can reach the companies that made, distributed or sold the product. Others can be responsible for their own carelessness. Depending on what failed and who did what, that can include:

• The manufacturer of the grill, the tank, the regulator, the valve or the hose.
• The store or distributor that sold the grill or the tank.
• The company that filled or exchanged the tank, if it overfilled it, skipped an inspection or put a damaged or out-of-date tank back in service.
• Whoever assembled or installed it, if the assembly or a gas connection was done wrong.
• A landlord, a condo or homeowners’ association, or a host who supplied a grill they knew or should have known was unsafe.

A product can be defective in three ways:

• Manufacturing defect. This unit came out different from its design in a way that made it dangerous, such as a hose with a flaw or a valve assembled wrong.
• Design defect. The design itself makes the product unreasonably dangerous, so every unit carries the risk.
• Warning defect. The product lacked the instructions or warnings a user needed to use it safely.

Florida holds manufacturers and sellers strictly liable for injuries caused by a defective product. Strict liability means you do not have to prove the company was careless, but you do have to prove the product was defective when it left the company’s hands and that the defect caused the injury. It covers bystanders as well as the person using the product. A claim against a refiller, an installer or a host is usually a negligence claim, which means proving they failed to use reasonable care.

If you share some of the blame, your damages are reduced by your share. If you are found more than 50 percent at fault for your own injuries, you recover nothing, and Florida applies that rule to product claims too. Fla. Stat. § 768.81(1)(c), (2), (6).

How long do you have to bring a claim?

Florida sets different deadlines for different kinds of claims after a grill fire:

• A product claim, one based on a defect in how the product was designed, made, distributed or sold: four years, counted from when you knew or should have known the facts behind the claim. Fla. Stat. §§ 95.11(3)(d), 95.031(2)(b). This covers a portable grill and its tank; a grill built into the house can count as part of the house and follow other deadline rules, so have those dates checked separately.
• A negligence claim, such as a refiller’s or a host’s carelessness: two years for a fire after March 24, 2023, when the shorter deadline took effect; if the fire was before that date, the deadline needs its own check. Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a); ch. 2023-15, § 28, Laws of Fla.
• A wrongful death claim: two years. Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(e).

There is also an outer limit for product claims, called a statute of repose. These 12 years have nothing to do with the tank’s requalification date: they run from when the product reached its first owner, not from the date stamped on it. Generally, no product claim can be brought for harm caused by using a product more than 12 years after it was delivered to its first buyer or lessee who was not a store or distributor, in other words, the first person to use it. If the manufacturer expressly represented or labeled the product as having an expected useful life of more than 10 years, the limit is that useful life or 12 years, whichever is later. A separate exception covers injuries from use within the repose period that do not show up until after it ends. The period is also paused while a manufacturer that knew of the defect took steps to hide it. Fla. Stat. § 95.031(2)(b) to (d).

A grill fire can raise more than one kind of claim, each with its own clock, so have a lawyer check the dates early and treat two years from the fire as the working deadline.

Frequently asked questions

I was the one grilling. Can I still have a claim?
You can, if a defect caused or worsened the fire. Being the person at the grill does not make the fire your fault; a hose that splits or a regulator that fails can burn a careful cook. If you also made a mistake, your share of fault reduces your damages, and a finding that you were more than 50 percent at fault ends the claim. The deadlines above still apply.

The grill was already thrown out. Is there still a claim?
Possibly, but it is harder. Photographs, the parts that are left, the receipts, the fire department’s report and what witnesses saw may still show what failed. The missing piece is exactly what the other side will point to, though, so keep whatever remains and do not let anything else be thrown away.

What if the grill or tank was recalled?
A recall can help show there was a problem, but a product can be defective without one. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission lists grill and regulator recalls at cpsc.gov. Check your grill’s model number against those recalls, and keep the product even if it was recalled.

If a grill, a propane tank or a regulator failed and someone was burned, I start with the product and its paper trail, and I talk to you myself. You can reach me through my attorney page or the form on this page.

Reviewed by Prosper Shaked, Florida personal injury attorney, who represents injured people in defective product, burn, car and truck accident, premises liability, medical malpractice and wrongful death cases from his office in North Miami Beach. Last reviewed: October 23, 2026.

Statutes and rules cited: § 95.031, § 95.11, § 768.81, Florida Statutes; 49 C.F.R. § 180.205 and § 180.209; negligence deadline transition: ch. 2023-15, § 28, Laws of Florida. Checked against the 2026 Florida Statutes on October 23, 2026. Relighting and leak guidance: NFPA Grilling Safety tip sheet. Fire figures: NFPA Research, 2020 to 2024 annual averages. Overfill device, grill safety features and storage warnings: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, release 02-127 (2002).