“Help, I’m on FIRE!!!”
This is something that many parents have been hearing from their kids’ mouths as they scream for help because of a trend. The fire trend has been becoming a worldwide trend on TikTok, causing many teens to have minor injuries to major injuries, so what is it exactly? The fire challenge is a TikTok trend that causes a person to pour alcohol on parts of their bodies in order to set them on fire.
This trend is usually done with water nearby, but many have been injured even with the water nearby, which has caused a rise in injuries due to third-degree burns on the body and also resulted in some deaths. Though this trend shows an increase in injuries and fatalities, many young teenagers still do the dangerous challenge just for a moment of TikTok fame. Many victims have come to speak up about their injuries and why this trend should be stopped. Let’s talk about it.
Corey Roper Hospitalized
This challenge has started becoming so dangerous that a 12-year-old boy by the name of Corey Roper is hospitalized. The mother of the son, Tiffany, is said to have heard screams, causing her to jolt out of her sleep and run toward her son. As she saw her son’s shirt on fire, she ran to the kitchen, grabbed the faucet sprayer, and drenched him in water. Though Tiffany was able to stop the fire successfully, her son was still hospitalized. It was until moments after getting to the hospital that she found out that her son had been partaking in a TikTok trend.
Corey is now hospitalized with injuries far worse than imagined; the 12-year-old kid now has second-degree and third-degree burns and has many surgeries and skin grafts to come before his healing process starts. This should be more than enough evidence of why this trend is very dangerous to attempt; many parents are nearly losing their children to trends like this. Many authorities encourage kids to avoid trends involving anything dealing with harmful materials.
TikTok Challenges
These TikTok challenges have started to persuade this generation of kids to do crazy ideas just for a moment of fame without thinking about the risk. This causes parents to become more strict with their kids and makes them more cautious about what their kids watch and learn from the internet. Although many parents have stopped their kids from being on TikTok completely because of these crazy antics, this has become a major change in many households. In conclusion, TikTok has become a rising influence in this generation’s life, whether bad or good. This generation can’t help but try to fit in, although it’s fine to want to have fun and ensure you are safe.
Have you ever seen a flamethrower in a movie or while watching a YouTuber test one out, thinking, “Wow, that seems cool. I want to try.” Go in search of how to make a homemade flamethrower. If yes, let’s talk about how kids doing this in the latest TikTok trends are being injured badly and being sent to the hospital with badly burnt bodies, but first, what is this trend, and what does it involve? The fire challenge is the name of it. This popular trend causes you to use a can of hairspray in a match or a lighter to spray it in a mirror.
Though it may be obvious where this may all go wrong, many influencers and kids looking for a moment of fame or an increase in followers are following this trend without a second thought of what could go wrong. Although you may see the successes of these videos only because of how the algorithm is set up, many failures have resulted in serious injuries due to this trend. Most of the injuries are only coming from children who happen to stumble across this trend and try to attempt it without parents’ supervision. Let’s talk about one of the recent major incidents due to the trend.
Destini Crane In The ICU
A 13-year-old girl named Destini Crane was involved in this challenge; she tried the trend by getting a bottle of her mother’s hair spray in a lighter and spraying it towards the bathroom mirror, although little Destini was a curious teenager. She didn’t know what happened next would change her life for the worst. While trying out the trend, Destini never noticed the flammable liquid right near her, and it ended up exploding in her proximity as she sprayed the homemade flamethrower.
Horrific screams filled the house as Destini screamed in panic for help as the huge explosion in such a small confined space left her in complete agony. Destini’s parents rushed to the scene, throwing water onto her, trying to extinguish the fire that grew bigger than expected. Her parents stated that this was very heartbreaking for them. This left Destini in the ICU with very severe burns on her body. She’s had a tracheotomy, and doctors are now in the process of doing skin grafts on her neck and arm. She is slowly on her journey of recovery from this horrible trend.
These are only two of the many people that got harmed doing this trend; many others experienced the same fate as Destini to get a moment of fame. This trend is something that shouldn’t be done no matter if there is parental supervision or not. Playing with fire could end up much worse than just a few burns. Doing trends because they seem cool or because you see major influencers attempting them doesn’t always mean it is right. Many parents have considered different methods to prevent their kids from following. In the bad examples of the internet, I agree it’s a better option than just letting this happen without notice. To conclude my statements, all TikToks aren’t a good idea, no matter how much fame or clout you think you’re getting out of it. The trends are not worth risking your life over.