SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — A Shreveport man is in the hospital with serious injuries after he reportedly tried a TikTok challenge that left him with third-degree burns.
According to Shreveport police and fire officials, it happened Sunday afternoon at a home on Malcolm Street in Shreveport’s Werner Park neighborhood. Firefighters responded to a 911 call reporting a person on fire and arrived minutes later to find a man suffering third-degree burns over most of his body.
According to Shreveport Fire Department PIO Clarence Reese, the home’s bathroom where it happened was also damaged by smoke and fire.
Police say there was a child and another adult at the home. The other adult told police the man was attempting to do a TikTok challenge with a flammable liquid. No other injuries were reported.
The man was taken to the burn unit at Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport in serious condition.
Similar TikTok challenges have left others seriously injured. In May, a 13-year-old Portland girl was left in the ICU fighting for her life from severe burns after she lit a candle in her bathroom, causing a bottle of rubbing alcohol to explode. Her family believes she may have been trying to follow a popular TikTok “challenge,” where one draws a design onto a mirror with a flammable liquid and then sets it on fire.
It’s not the first TikTok challenge to post a threat to safety and property.
In December, a 12-year-old in Connecticut was burned while attempting to do another TikTok challenge known as the “Whoosh Bottle Experiment.” That challenge involved igniting alcohol in a bottle, which creates a small explosion that makes the “whoosh” sound.
While the challenge is based on a science experiment that can be safely done with proper precautions, fire safety officials are trying to warn the public – and parents – that this and challenges like them can result in serious injury and even death.
In January 2020, fire officials issued a warning after a viral challenge on the popular social media app nearly caused a fire at a Massachusetts high school. That challenge involved partially inserting a phone charger into a wall outlet — and then sliding a penny down the wall onto the exposed prongs.
A student at another Massachusetts high school was charged with arson for starting a fire in a similar incident.