Flamethrower
The flamethrower is one of the five weapons in the first Grand Theft Auto (1997) and appears in every main game up to Vice City Stories, plus Chinatown Wars. It is usually a reward or a hidden pickup rather than a shop item. It was cut from GTA IV and GTA V, although a film poster in GTA V shows one.
What is the flamethrower in GTA?
The flamethrower sprays a short stream of fire that sets people and cars alight. It has little range but does steady damage, and fire keeps burning after the trigger is released. It was in the series from the very start: the 1997 Grand Theft Auto had only five weapons, and this was one of them, as our weapons guide explains.
Which GTA games have the flamethrower?
GTA Wiki lists it in every main game from the 1997 original through Vice City Stories, in London 1969 and Advance, and in Chinatown Wars. It was dropped from GTA IV, where the files contain an empty entry for it, and from GTA V.
Where do you get the flamethrower?
In most games it is earned rather than bought. These locations come from GTA Wiki.
| Game | How to get it |
|---|---|
| GTA 2 | Mounted on a fire truck in a side mission, or as a crusher reward |
| GTA III | $25,000 at a garage in Pike Creek after A Drop in the Ocean; also on a rooftop in Harwood |
| Vice City | Appears at safehouses after 40 hidden packages |
| San Andreas | Ground pickups, such as on the freighter in Easter Basin |
| Advance | After putting out 20 fires per island in the firefighter missions |
| Liberty City Stories | $5,500 from Phil Cassidy after Friggin' the Riggin', or 80 hidden packages |
| Vice City Stories | Outside every safehouse after popping 70 red balloons |
| Chinatown Wars | $6,000 from Ammu-Nation after Scrambled |
Is there a flamethrower in GTA V?
No. GTA Wiki notes that it cannot be used in GTA V, though a character carries one on a poster for the fictional film Righteous Slaughter 7. Players who want fire in GTA V use the Molotov cocktail instead.
Flamethrower trivia
GTA Wiki notes that in San Andreas the flamethrower and the Molotov can both wreck a Rhino tank, and that Ammu-Nation's signs there claim to sell flamethrowers even though none are on the shelves. In the GTA III era, fire does not show up in mirrors.
Sources
- GTA Wiki — Flamethrower read 2 Nov 2026
- GTA Wiki — Weapons read 2 Nov 2026