Michael Hubbard

Nancy Reyer thanked Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps last week with a $5,000 donation to acknowledge their caring and concern for her late son, Michael Hubbard, who was critically burned by a highly flammable gel candle in May 2011.

The tragedy that befell Michael Hubbard 10 years ago today did not have to happen. With at least two dozen burn injuries and one death before May 28, 2011, the product that ended Michael Hubbard's life should not have been on store shelves that spring.

Riverhead youth severely burned by exploding 'gel candle' in May 2011 succumbs to his injuries

Eight years ago this evening, a 14-year-old Riverhead boy's life ended in the fireball of an exploding “gel candle” — a decorative ceramic pot designed to burn pourable, aromatic citronella gel fuel.

A state appellate court ruled that the decorative gel fuel 'fire pot' was defectively designed and so dangerous it posed 'an extraordinary safety risk.' It injured 86 people in the U.S., many critically, including Michael Hubbard of Riverhead, and resulted in two deaths during 15 months in 2010-2011 before the manufacturer pulled them from stores and filed for bankruptcy.

The Riverhead teen severely burned by an exploding gel candle in 2011 has been hospitalized ever since and today marked his 20th birthday at Peconic Bay Medical Center.

The Brendan House in Riverhead is almost finished, but move-in for the 12 brain-injured patients it will house is now delayed by an unanticipated $40,000 expense to hook up to the town water district's main.

Moved by Riverhead teen's valiant fight, Navy veteran presents Michael Hubbard with the combat action medal he earned serving during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

The Riverhead Boys Basketball Booster Club held the First Annual Alumni Basketball game yesterday at Riverhead High School. Blue Waves alumni of all ages took...

Nancy Reyer, mother of Michael Hubbard is asking for 2,000 'high fives' — $5 donations — in her effort to raise $10,000 for cesspools at Brendan House, a home for brain-injury survivors now under construction in Riverhead.