Dangerous ‘Fire Challenge’ craze that sees kids set themselves ALIGHT for ‘likes’ on social media hits UK leaving kids in hospital
Hospital staff said they have seen an increase in kids being admitted with serious burns
THE dangerous “Fire Challenge” craze where kids sets themselves alight for “likes” on social media has landed in the UK hospitalising them with serious burns.
Specialist staff at Swansea’s Morriston Hospital said they have seen an increase in the number of teens who are being admitted with serious burns.
The “Fire Challenge”, which originated in the US, sees kids pouring themselves in flammable liquid and then setting themselves on fire.
The point of the craze is to film the stunt and then post it to social media in an attempt get more “likes”.
This reckless challenge has resulted in people needing surgery and life support treatment.
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board has now issued a health warning about the hazardous craze.
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Jeremy Yarrow, a plastic surgeon at Morriston Hospital, said he knows that young people feel pressured to boost their social media presence by participating in these challenges.
He said: “I can understand there is pressure on young people to gain acceptance or boost their online profiles by doing such risky things as these challenges.
“But from the patients I see, the results can be very different, with some requiring life support treatment and many left with lifelong scars.
“In some severe and sometimes life-threatening cases, they are admitted to hospital for long periods of time for complex surgery resulting in long term mental and physical issues.”
The health board did not disclose the specific number of patients they have treated, but staff did say the number has gone up.
Ana Biney, a staff nurse at Morriston Hospital’s Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, told : “We have definitely seen an increase in the number of teenagers who have suffered quite serious burns because of this.
“They could be killed or scarred for life.”
In the US, a 12-year-old was hospitalised with severe burns after participating in the challenge.
Timiyah Landers, of Detroit, Michigan, burned 49 per cent of her body after she poured rubbing alcohol on herself and lit herself on fire in August.
She was rushed to the hospital where she required multiple surgeries and had to breath through a ventilator.
The Fire Challenge first started in 2012 after YouTuber 1BlazinEagle1 uploaded a video of him lighting his chest hair on fire.
It gained more than 100,000 views by 2014 and has inspired others to try it.
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