What to do if a candle you made causes a fire or injury
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Make sure the person is safe, stop selling that candle, keep everything, call your insurer, and decide quickly whether you must report to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Federal law requires every manufacturer, distributor and retailer of a consumer product to tell CPSC when it has information that reasonably supports a conclusion that the product has a defect that could create a substantial product hazard, creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, or fails a mandatory rule. Candles are covered. CPSC's regulations expect a report within 24 hours of having that information, and allow about 10 days at most to investigate first. This page takes you through the first day, the reporting decision and what a recall involves.
The first hours
- Safety first. If anyone is hurt, they need medical care. If the fire is still a risk, the fire department comes before anything else.
- Stop selling the candle. Pull that product, and any candle from the same batch, wick lot or jar lot, from your shelves, your website and your shops until you know what happened.
- Ask for the candle back, or photographs of it. The remains of the candle, the jar, the wick and where it was burning are the evidence of what failed. Ask, do not demand, and do not promise anything.
- Write down what you were told, with the date, the customer's words, and how long and where the candle was burning.
- Call your insurance carrier. Your policy will say how quickly you must notify it of a claim or potential claim; read that clause before you need it. Insurance for candle makers covers product liability coverage.
- Pull your records for that product: the batch record, the wick, wax, fragrance and jar lots, and the burn test record for that build. Keeping burn test records explains what those should contain.
Do not admit fault, offer a settlement or post about it publicly before you have spoken to your insurer and, if needed, a lawyer.
When the law requires a report
Section 15(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act and CPSC's rules at 16 CFR Part 1115 set the duty. CPSC's regulations state that manufacturers (including importers), distributors and retailers of products regulated under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, which covers candles, are subject to the section 15(b) reporting requirements [1].
You must report when you obtain information that reasonably supports a conclusion that the candle [2] [3]:
- fails to comply with a mandatory CPSC rule, such as the lead limit for metal-cored wicks,
- contains a defect which could create a substantial product hazard, or
- creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death.
A defect can be in more than the design. CPSC's rule says a defect can also lie in a product's contents, construction, finish, packaging, warnings or instructions [4]. For a candle, that could be a wick too large for the jar, a jar that cracks under heat, a decoration that ignites, or burn instructions that leave out something essential.
CPSC's rules tell firms not to wait for certainty: a firm should not hold back a report while it tries to establish for certain that a reportable defect or risk exists [3]. When CPSC weighs whether a defect is a substantial product hazard, it looks at the pattern of defect, the number of defective products distributed, and the severity of the risk, and a single defective product can be enough if the possible injury is serious or likely [3].
Questions to work through
| Question | If yes |
|---|---|
| Does what you heard suggest the candle itself failed (flame flaring, jar cracking, secondary ignition, tipping), rather than misuse such as a candle left burning against a curtain? | Treat it as a possible defect and keep going |
| Has more than one customer reported the same thing, or did your own burn tests show it? | The pattern points toward reporting |
| Was anyone burned or was property damaged, or could they have been? | Severity points toward reporting |
| Does the candle use a metal-cored wick whose lead content you cannot document? | A possible failure to comply with a mandatory rule |
| Are you unsure after working through these? | CPSC's rules favor reporting over waiting [3]; ask counsel |
Information that counts includes complaints from consumers or consumer groups, product liability suits and claims for injury or damage, and your own engineering, quality control or production data [3]. Your burn test records are part of that information, which is one more reason to keep them honestly.
The reporting clock
| Stage | What CPSC's rules say |
|---|---|
| When the duty can begin | On receipt of the first information about a possible noncompliance, hazard or risk; "A subject firm should not await complete or accurate risk estimates before reporting under section 15(b) of CPSA" [2] |
| Investigating | "A subject firm may conduct a reasonably expeditious investigation in order to evaluate the reportability" of what it has learned; it should take no more than 10 days unless the firm can show a longer period is reasonable [2] |
| Reporting | "Immediately, that is, within 24 hours," of obtaining information that reasonably supports the conclusion [2] |
| Inside a company | "Under ordinary circumstances, 5 days should be the maximum reasonable time" for information to reach the chief executive [2]; in a one-person business, you are the chief executive |
The rule states: "Weekends and holidays are excluded from the computation of the time periods in this part" [2].
How to report
The regulation directs reports to CPSC's Office of Compliance, Division of Corrective Actions, and lists a telephone number, 301-504-0608 [5]. CPSC's current website may list newer ways to file; check it, or call CPSC's Small Business Ombudsman at (888) 531-9070 or SBO@cpsc.gov for help with the process [6]. Have ready: the product name and description, how many units you sold and when and where, the incidents you know of, your test records, and what you have already done, such as stopping sales.
Distributors and retailers that are not the manufacturer have their own route under the regulation [5]. If a shop that sells your candles reports first, you will hear from CPSC; respond promptly.
What a candle recall looks like
CPSC's rules include a subpart on remedial actions and sanctions and another on mandatory recall notices [7]. Candle recalls on CPSC's site show the kinds of failure that lead to one:
| Recall | Date | Units | Hazard as CPSC described it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Wick & Petal Co. candles | January 17, 2008 | About 1,300 | High flame; seven reports [8] |
| Pier 1 three-wick Halloween candles | August 19, 2020 | About 30,810 | High flames that can ignite the wax surface; seven reports, one minor burn [9] |
| Little Cow Company 9 oz candles in glass jars | February 5, 2026 | About 1,140 | Jars can crack or break during use; two reports, no injuries [10] |
Each of these followed a handful of reports, set against the number of candles sold. If your candle is ever recalled, you will need to reach the people who bought it, and your records of who bought what (wholesale invoices, online orders) are what make that possible.
Records that help you if this happens
- Batch records that link each candle to its wax, fragrance, wick and vessel lots (records a candle business keeps).
- Burn test records for each product build, including flame height, container temperature and end of life results (keeping burn test records).
- Supplier documents: jar supplier statements, wick certificates for metal-cored wicks (certificates of conformity).
- Sales records by batch, with wholesale buyers' contact details.
- A complaint log, including complaints that turned out to be nothing.
If a candle you made may have caused a fire or injury, talk to your insurer, a lawyer and CPSC the same day.
Before it happens: the cover that pays for it
The cost of a fire claim falls on you or your insurer. If you are selling without product liability coverage, insurance for candle makers is the next page to read.
References
- 16 CFR 1115.2, Scope and finding (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School), read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/1115.2
- 16 CFR 1115.14, Time computations (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School), read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/1115.14
- 16 CFR 1115.12, Information which should be reported; evaluating substantial product hazard (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School), read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/1115.12
- 16 CFR 1115.4, Defect (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School), read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/1115.4
- 16 CFR 1115.10, Persons who must report and where to report (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School), read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/1115.10
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Candles Business Guidance, undated, read October 22, 2026. https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Candles
- 16 CFR Part 1115, Substantial Product Hazard Reports (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School), read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/part-1115
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, The Wick & Petal Co. Recalls Candles Due to Fire Hazard, January 17, 2008. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2008/the-wick-petal-co-recalls-candles-due-to-fire-hazard
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Pier 1 Recalls Three-Wick Halloween Candles Due to Fire and Burn Hazards, recall 20-169, August 19, 2020. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2020/Pier-1-Recalls-Three-Wick-Halloween-Candles-Due-to-Fire-and-Burn-Hazards
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Little Cow Company Recalls 9 oz Candles in Glass Jars Due to Fire, Burn and Laceration Hazards, recall 26-241, February 5, 2026. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2026/Little-Cow-Company-Recalls-9-oz-Candles-in-Glass-Jars-Due-to-Fire-Burn-and-Laceration-Hazards
