Fire Challenge: New Social Media Trend Shows Teens Intentionally Setting Themselves On Fire [Video]


Almost every week, there’s a new trend circulating on different social media platforms. Most recently, several different types of competitive challenges have dominated social media. The “Gospel Challenge,” “Grown and Sexy Challenge,” and “Wall Challenge” have been quite popular via Facebook. However, all of the challenges haven’t been about fun and games. The infamous “Pass Out Challenge,” also referred to as the “fainting game,” has led to a number of fatalities.

Now, the latest trend is rapidly becoming one of the most dangerous ones to date. Teenagers around the country have become fascinated with the “Fire Challenge.” The disturbing game is a jaw-dropping stunt that involves teenagers intentionally setting themselves on fire.

“It seems the point of the challenge is to spray a small amount of flammable liquid like alcohol or perfume on an area of the body and light it on fire for a few moments,” explained New York Daily News. “Accidents seem to happen if too much liquid is spread or they are unable to extinguish the flame quickly enough.”

Of course, the disturbing incidents have been caught on video and uploaded to several social media platforms. As a matter of fact, hundreds of challenge videos have been uploaded to YouTube. Some teens have successfully put their fires out without suffering any major injuries. But, there have been incidents where participants haven’t been successful in completing the challenge.

One incident in particular was uploaded to Live Leak under the hashtag, #FireChallengeGoneWrong. The video shows a man pouring flammable liquid on his bare chest, neck and shoulders. He then asks for a lighter and sets his chest on fire. The fire immediately sparked and caused a massive blaze that covered most of his body. He immediately began screaming and running for the shower to run water over his body.

WARNING: Videos contain graphic language and content.

Due to the massive amount of liquid he poured on his chest and shoulders, the fire was almost impossible to contain. Although he and his friends were able to put the fire out, the damage had probably already been done. Ironically, nearly all of the videos end the same way. Most of the footage never shows the outcome.

Another incident occurred in Kentucky where a 15-year-old boy suffered from severe burns to his chest after participating in the online stunt. He gave a detailed account of his participation in the dangerous stunt. According to WKYT, he expressed that the effects of the “nearly unbearable” burns were almost immediate. So, its probably safe to say the young man in the Live Leak video also suffered immediate reaction.

Lexington Fire Department Captain Chris Harrod weighed in with his opinion of the horrific stunt. He also stated most of the videos never show the end results. “What they don’t show at the end of the videos is the consequences of doing this, getting second and third degree burns,” Harrod said.

[Image via Bing]

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