Fire charges are combat items that light fires when used.
Obtaining
Chest loot
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Fire Charge | Ruined portal | Chest | 1 | 46.4% |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Fire Charge | Ruined portal | Chest | 1 | 46.4% |
Crafting
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|
| Blaze Powder + Coal or Charcoal + Gunpowder |
Bartering
Piglins may barter 1 fire charge when given a gold ingot.
Usage
Dispensing Fire Charge
Fire charges can be used as ammunition for dispensers, or as a substitute for flint and steel.
When used, it instantly lights a fire, similar to flint and steel. The fire charge is consumed in the process. It can prime TNT and light nether portals and campfires like flint and steel. However, it cannot be used to detonate creepers.
When a fire charge is fired from a dispenser, it acts like a blaze's fireball, flying in a straight line (with a random offset from the dispenser's line of sight). It places fire when it hits a block. It produces no explosive effect. If it hits a player or entity, it can deal up to 9![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
damage: 5![]()
![]()
projectile damage, and 4![]()
fire damage from being set on fire. These fireballs can prime minecarts with TNT. They cannot be deflected.
Crafting ingredient
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firework Star | Gunpowder + Matching Dye + Fire Charge + Glowstone Dust + Diamond |
Up to eight dyes can be added. One head, gold nugget, feather, or fire charge can be added. Both the diamond and the glowstone dust can be added with any of the other ingredients. | |
| White Firework Star or Blue Firework Star or Brown Firework Star or Black Firework Star |
Gunpowder + Bone Meal or Lapis Lazuli or Cocoa Beans or Ink Sac + Fire Charge + Glowstone Dust + Diamond |
[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only] Up to eight dyes can be added. One head, gold nugget, feather, or fire charge can be added. Both the diamond and the glowstone dust can be added with any of the other ingredients. |
Sounds
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghast shoots | ? | ? | entity | subtitles | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Blaze shoots | Hostile Creatures | When fired from a dispenser | entity | subtitles | 2.0 | 0.8 – 1.2 | 32 | |
| Fireball whooshes | Blocks | When used by hand | item | subtitles | ? | ? | 16 |
Data values
ID
| Name | Identifier | Form | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Charge | fire_charge | Item | item.minecraft.fire_charge |
| Name | Identifier | Entity tags | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Fireball | small_fireball | impact_projectiles | entity.minecraft.small_fireball |
| Name | Identifier | Alias ID | Numeric ID | Form | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Charge | fire_charge | fireball | 509 | Item | item.fireball.name |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Fireball | small_fireball | 94 | entity.small_fireball.name |
Entity data
Shot fire charges have entity data that define various properties of the entity.
Fire Charge/ED
Achievements
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other | |||||
| Into The Nether | Construct a Nether Portal. | Light a nether portal. | 30G | Bronze | ||
Advancements
| Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Resource location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | We Need to Go Deeper | Build, light and enter a Nether Portal | Ice Bucket Challenge | Enter the Nether dimension. | story/enter_the_nether
|
Video
History
| Java Edition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease | ||||
| 1.2.1 | 12w04a | Added fire charges, which use the above texture. They can be crafted only with coal. | |||
| 12w05a | Fire charges can now be crafted with charcoal. | ||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w38b | The sound when using the fire charge has now been changed. It is now the same sound as when flint and steel is used. | |||
| 1.4.6 | 12w49a | Fire charges can now be used to craft fireworks. | |||
| 1.8 | 14w31a | The sound when using fire charges to set fire has now been changed. It is now the same sound as when it's fired from dispensers. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w33c | Fire charges now appear purple and explode with dragon's breath when fired from dispensers. | |||
| 15w44b | Fire charges once again appear as blaze fireballs when fired from dispensers. | ||||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | The entity ID has now been changed from SmallFireball to small_fireball. | |||
| 16w40a | Tags xTile, yTile, zTile, inTile and inGround have now been removed from the small fireball entity data.
| ||||
The life tag is no longer used for anything, but still saved/read. | |||||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | Prior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 385. | |||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | ||||
| 1.15 | 19w42a | Dispensed fire charges can now light campfires. | |||
| 1.16 | 20w07a | Fire charges have a 5⁄109 (~4.59%) chance of being given by the new piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 1. | |||
| 20w09a | Fire charges now have a 20⁄226 (~8.82%) chance of being given by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 1–5. | ||||
| 20w16a | Fire charges now generate in ruined portal chests. | ||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.15.0 | build 1 | ||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2.0 | beta 1.2.0.2 | Fire charges can now be used to craft firework stars. | |||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | ||||
| 1.16.0 | beta 1.16.0.57 | Fire charges can now be obtained from bartering with piglin. | |||
| Fire charges can now be found in ruined portal chests. | |||||
| 1.16.100 | beta 1.16.100.56 | The ID of fire charges has been changed from fireball to fire_charge. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU9 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | |
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Fire charges now make sounds when igniting blocks. | |
| 1.90 | |||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | |||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Fire Charge" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
- The
fireballentities, which are also known as "ghast fireballs," have the same texture as thesmall_fireballentity. - Their hit damage is actually fire damage, as seen by the fact that they do not deal damage to a player with Fire Resistance.
- When a dispenser with a fire charge is placed with a block directly in front of it, the dispenser shoots through it and lights a fire on the other side.
- A fire charge flies infinitely far until it hits a block or an entity, even if it is outside the player's render distance.
- When shot from a dispenser, the fire charge starts out stationary and accelerates, as though it is falling rather than being launched. Fireballs shot by blazes, however, maintain the same speed all the way to the target.
Gallery
A fire charge found in a ruined portal chest, together with an enchanted golden apple.

