This summer’s most absurdly popular game for children involves dousing your entire torso in a flammable liquid like rubbing alcohol, setting yourself on fire, and then posting the video online. This extremely dangerous, but trending game is called the Fire Challenge.
As of now, there are thousands of these videos online. Both boys and girls, some as young as 11 years old, are participating nationally. Just last week, a 14 year-old in Harris County was hospitalized after suffering second degree burns from taking on the Fire Challenge.
What most kids don’t consider is that the Fire Challenge involves many extremely unsafe risks. Part of what makes the game a challenge involves upping the ante, which means using more dangerous and increasingly flammable fuels and covering their bodies with even more of it. Children can get first through third degree burns from the game, and fire injuries can leave lasting scars and some of the worst internal and external injuries. At this point, fire officials across the nation are warning teens that it is not only a health risk for all people involved in the game, but also a safety hazard for people’s homes as the fires spread particularly fast when accelerants such as alcohol are used. Furthermore, depending on the fuel the children use, traditional water might not even be effective for putting out the fire. Unfortunately, there has even been one reported death in New York of a 15 year-old.
So how exactly are kids finding out about the Fire Challenge, and why are they doing it? Well, the challenge videos are trending all over social media and have more recently also received substantial attention via the news. As it is summer, many teens are bored and at home unsupervised. By posting one of these videos on Facebook or Youtube, they are looking to receive instant gratification, but many of them do not realize how dangerous the challenge really is. The few minutes of short-lived fame and notoriety are definitely not worth the life-threatening risks the Fire Challenge presents.
What is even more concerning is that we are not sure when the Fire Challenge trend will be over. While we are hoping that the game’s popularity will die down when children go back to school and are under more supervision. Luckily, various social media sites are also starting to remove the videos from their websites in order to deter others from making the same mistakes. In fact, we can thank Facebook for doing its part by deleting all videos with #FireChallenge.
However, it is still important to consider that the Fire Challenge is not a unique trend. In the age of social media, there have been many other dangerous games including: the Choking Game where children cut off their own oxygen supply using their hands or a noose to get a brief high, the Cinnamon Challenge where kids attempt to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon and typically cough or vomit it out, Huffing and Dusting where children intentionally inhale common household products, Car Surfing involving standing on the roof of a moving car, Mumblety Peg where you spread your fingers on a table and stabs the spaces in between as quickly as possible with a knife, and Chubby Bunny where children stuff as many full-sized marshmallows as possible in their mouths and then say the words “Chubby Bunny” to an audience. All of these challenges and games have many dangerous risk factors and should never be encouraged.
This means that parents need to sit down and talk with their children about the dangers of such games and discuss the many potential consequences. The best time to warn your kids about these activities is as soon as you hear of them. While children are undergoing extensive cognitive development during their pubescent years, they will undoubtedly make some poor choices. However, parent supervision and guidance can reduce the health and safety risks associated with some of their decisions. Instead, parents can encourage other organized activities that also offer a thrill, such as many sports or outdoor activities with the appropriate safety equipment.