Montana Alerted to Walmart’s Ozark Trail Stove Recall

If you enjoy being a camp cook, like I do, then you know a solid camp stove is the difference between a pleasant evening under the stars and a long night gnawing on cold granola and jerky. So when I read that Walmart is recalling the Ozark Trail tabletop butane stove, my Montana eyebrow twitch kicked in. You know? That squint we all get when something seems a bit too dramatic to be true. Then I read the recall report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and found that this thing may actually turn into a little fireball. That’s not the kind of heat I want in camp.

What The Feds Say Went Wrong

The stove can fail in a manner that poses a risk of sudden, unexpected ignition of the fuel source, or “flame bursts,” the CPSC said. In plain Montana terms, that little cooker will catch fire in your lap! The recall reports note that the stove can leak gas and suddenly burst into flames. I say I love camp cooking, but I can't stand the smell of burnt hair.

Why This Matters In Montana

In Montana, our campers do more hard work than most. We take stoves into high wind and cold, elk camps and fishing camps, essentially every corner of the backcountry. We do not baby our equipment. If any stove has even a slight potential to transform itself into a propane bomb, someone is going to get singed. And with the number of Ozark Trail items that make it into the carts at Walmarts around the state, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn some of those stoves found a home in wall tents this past hunting season.

Final Thought From Camp

Backcountry breakfast dishes are some of my favorites. Coffee, eggs, the whole thing. But nothing spoils a morning like seeing your stove change from “steady blue flame” to “Fourth of July surprise.” If you purchased one of these Ozark Trail butane stoves, pray for your eyebrows.