Boy of 11 burnt in deadly dare that’s sweeping the web
A BOY of 11 needed skin grafts after suffering severe burns when he set himself on fire to ‘impress’ friends who dared him to take part in a lethal new internet craze.
Oliver Sharp is the most seriously injured British victim of the ‘fire challenge’, in which young people put flammable liquids on their bodies before setting themselves ablaze.
They then attempt to put the flames out, often screaming and shouting, by jumping into a bath or pool of water as their friends record videos to post on Facebook and YouTube. But the craze, which began in America, has led to the death of at least one 15-year-old US boy who was unable to extinguish flames that engulfed his entire body.
Dozens more have been horribly burnt and injured. Unlike the ‘ice bucket challenge’, in which participants posted online videos of themselves having buckets of frozen water thrown over their heads to raise money for charity, the fire challenge is purely a dare.
Oliver, from Barnetby, near Scunthorpe, told his parents he felt pressurised into trying it after being dared to do so by fellow Year 7 pupils at his school.
Alone in his bedroom, he set fire to his shirt and managed to extinguish it, but when he did it a second time, he was unable to put out the flames.
His mother Sarah, 30, said she was doing housework when her daughter Lacy ‘ came running to tell me he was on fire’.
After putting the flames out, she rushed her son to Scunthorpe General Hospital with severe burns to his back and side. He was later transferred to Sheffield Children’s Hospital, where he has since undergone a series of skin grafts.
‘He said he lit his shirt once and managed to put it out, but when he lit the burnt area again his shirt just went up in flames,’ said Mrs Sharp.
‘I haven’t registered what has happened yet – I have just been laid at his bedside cuddling him. He is never in trouble. He is a brilliant little boy and I thought he had the brains not to do something like this.’
Julie Baker, the burns unit manager at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, said: ‘ Oliver’s clothing was flame retardant, but
‘It defies logic’
not flame proof – if you try hard enough to set fire to flame-retardant clothing, it will be set alight.’
Steve Pratten, of the East Midlands Ambulance Service, said: ‘ A young boy’s life has been permanently affected. It is a dangerous craze. It defies logic and I can’t understand why anyone would want to set themselves on fire. Burns are painful and can be life-threatening and life-changing.’
Humberside Fire and Rescue warned: ‘This reckless activity is not only endangering the lives of the participants but putting other lives at risk if towels or carpets ignite as the flames spread.’