Fire Magic
Cast 304 stainless built-in grills manufactured in City of Industry, California.
🏭 American Manufacturing
Our assessment
Company details
Where Fire Magic products are made
Grills, pizza ovens and outdoor kitchen components are built at the R.H. Peterson campus in the San Gabriel Valley — one manufacturing site rather than a network of contract factories, which is why the company can put a lifetime warranty behind the metal.
Fire Magic casts its 304 stainless burners and housings instead of stamping and welding panels together. There are no welded seams to open up, which is the failure point on most stainless grills after a few seasons of heat cycling.
R.H. Peterson has been building fire products in Southern California since the 1930s, and Fire Magic sits alongside Real Fyre gas logs, American Outdoor Grill and American Fyre Designs under the same roof.
The American-made manufacturing claim, the 304 stainless construction and the 85-year figure are published by Fire Magic on firemagicgrills.com. The City of Industry location is the R.H. Peterson Co. manufacturing address. No founding year is published for the Fire Magic brand on the company’s own site, so none is asserted here.
The story
The premium built-in grill is a category that barely existed before Americans started treating the backyard as a room. R.H. Peterson Co. has been making fire products in Southern California since the 1930s — gas logs first, then grills — and Fire Magic is the line that ended up defining the high end of the built-in market.
The company’s argument has always been metallurgical rather than culinary. Most stainless grills are built from stamped panels welded together, and heat cycling eventually finds the welds. Fire Magic casts its burners and housings from 304 stainless with no welded seams, which costs more up front and is the reason people describe these grills as heirloom equipment.
That approach only works if you own the foundry side of the process, which is why the whole thing is designed and assembled on one campus in City of Industry rather than sourced from wherever the panels are cheapest this year.
Why they matter
Outdoor cooking is one of the most import-dominated hardware categories in American retail. Nearly every grill sold in the United States is built overseas, and the ones that are not tend to be small-batch specialists. Fire Magic is neither small nor imported, which makes it unusual in both directions.
It is also a Southern California manufacturer that stayed in Southern California — an expensive place to run a metal fabrication operation, and one that has lost an enormous amount of industrial capacity over the past forty years. Keeping a large stainless-steel manufacturing campus in Los Angeles County is a decision the company has to re-make every year.
For a buyer, the practical upshot is parts and service. A grill built and warrantied by a company with one domestic factory can be repaired for decades; a grill assembled from a discontinued overseas parts bin usually cannot. That is the real argument for buying the American-made one in this category.
Shop Fire Magic products
Browse Fire Magic grills and outdoor kitchen components stocked on the Buy American Campaign store.
Frequently asked questions
Are Fire Magic grills made in the USA?
Fire Magic states on its own website that it manufactures premium, American-made electric, gas and charcoal grills. Because that published claim is specific to the grills rather than to every accessory in the outdoor kitchen range, we label Fire Magic American Manufacturing.
Where are Fire Magic grills made?
At the R.H. Peterson Co. manufacturing campus in City of Industry, California, in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles.
Who makes Fire Magic?
R.H. Peterson Co., a Southern California manufacturer of fire products that also produces the Real Fyre, American Outdoor Grill and American Fyre Designs brands.
What are Fire Magic grills made of?
Heavy-gauge 304 stainless steel. The burners and housings are cast rather than stamped and welded, so there are no welded seams to warp or corrode.