Boy Badly Burned After Friends Set Him Alight For Viral 'Fire Challenge'

A 12-year-old boy in the US has been left badly burnt after his friends set him alight as part of a 'fire challenge'.

Jason Clearly, from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, was doused with nail polish remover before being set alight last Saturday, sustaining second-degree burns on his chin, chest and stomach and spending four days in hospital.

Now, his mum, Tabatha, has warned people against attempting the viral 'challenge', which sees young people cover themselves in flammable substances before setting themselves on fire.

Speaking to WDIV, she said: "I just want everybody to know that these challenges, or whatever they're watching on YouTube, is not worth risking your life.

"My son got [second-degree burns], and it could've been way worse."

Tabatha said she first knew something was wrong when she could hear Jason screaming from outside a friend's house nearby.

She said: "So we came running out, and that's when his friend, Bryce, was riding him on the bike with no shirt on. And I immediately started to freak out. I'm like, 'Take him to the hospital! Take him to the hospital!'"

WDIV

Jason said his friends had swatted the flames out when they first tried the 'challenge', but the second time around the flames spread after they continued to apply the nail polish remover.

He said: "They kept spraying it on me. Once my dad finally opened the door and said, 'Let's go to the hospital,' I was in the backseat, still in much, much pain."

Police are now investigating the incident.

Last year, a girl in the US was left in intensive care after trying the so-called challenge.

Timiyah Landers, from Detroit, Michigan, sustained serious burns to almost half of her body after covering herself in alcohol and setting herself on fire. Her mum, Brandi, said her 12-year-old daughter came rushing down the hallway looking like a 'fireball'.

Facebook/Brandi Owens

Speaking to the Washington Post, she said: "She looked like a fireball. She was yelling, 'Help me'.

"I was reaching through the fire. It was like a reflex. I didn't even feel the fire, I was just saving my daughter.

"When she put the alcohol on her and the girl lit the fire, it just basically blew up because she already had flammable things on her anyway, perfumes and stuff like that.

"They weren't expecting it to go that way. It was just a challenge, so it's a lesson learned for all of them."

Topics: Viral, US News, YouTube

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey