A 12-year-old boy was badly burned after a friend set him on fire because of a social media stunt called the “fire challenge.” Tabitha Cleary, the mother of Jason, said he suffered a second-degree burn after a friend sprayed him with nail polish remover and set him on fire. Jason was then hospitalized for four days after the incident that happened at his friend’s house on Saturday.
Cleary after the incident told NBC news, “I just want everybody to know that these challenges, or whatever they are watching on YouTube, is not worth risking your life. My son got second-degree, and it could have been way worse.”
It was unclear if the police were aware of this incident. An email was sent to the Dearborn Police but no email was sent back.
Jason told NBC News station, “The first time it was like a little tiny fire, then they swatted it out. The second time, the flames flared up.” Jason described being in pain in the back seat while being rushed to the hospital by his mother. She heard screaming outside before finding her son burned.
This fire challenge is not something that has just started. The University of Iowa’s Injury Prevention Research Center said on their website that the “fire challenge started getting exposure in the year 2010. Other dangerous pranks followed the “fire challenge” several years later. Instead of using fire, people would use hot water.
In 2016, a boy from Queens, New York was badly burned after he put rubbing alcohol all over his body and set himself on fire. Another incident last year, which involved a 12-year-old girl who spent two months in a hospital after doing the “fire challenge.” She suffered second and third degree burns in this stunt.
The New Jersey of Fire Safety in 2014 issued a statewide emergency bulletin about the risk of serious injuries doing this challenge. across the nation. One of the officials noted that doing this challenge you risk inhaling burning fluid into the lungs which is toxic.
YouTube in January announced it would be more aware of what people post on their website and started cracking down on any harmful or dangerous viral pranks or challenges ever since. This was directed to challenges such as the fire challenge and “Tide Pod Challenge.” The tide pod challenge is when a person starts eating the laundry detergent capsules. Both of these challenges can cause serious damage to one’s health. Those two challenges will no longer be allowed to be published on YouTube’s website.
The YouTube company has said in its enforcement plan that challenges and stunts like these will “have no place on YouTube.”
YouTube made this announcement following another recent challenge that grew popular over social media called the “Bird Box Challenge.” This challenge involved people blindfolding themselves while doing random tasks. The popular movie on Netflix inspired this challenge and became viral on the platform.
The video-sharing website now has a strike policy for all YouTube users. A violation of the rules will result in a strike. If you get three strikes within a three month period it will result in your YouTube account being permanently terminated.
The child who set Jason on fire should be punished. We need to teach the youth that dangerous stunts and challenges like the fire challenge are not okay. Parents should be monitoring their children to ensure they are safe and not hurting themselves or others.. Doing these challenges could result in someone losing their life just so they can get clicks and views, which of course is not worth it in the end.
