Dangerous 'TikTok trend' sees students set their laptops on fire

A new dangerous "TikTok trend" has resulted in multiple high schools being evacuated in Connecticut.

In the videos, students are filming themselves as they jam items such as pencils and springs into the charging ports of their Chromebooks, all to try and set them on fire as part of the trend.

Consequently, Newington High School had to be evacuated last week when smoke filled the classroom due to the trend, and firefighters were called to tackle the problem.

"On Thursday, I was alerted by both my director of security and high school principal that we had a Chromebook that was smoking,” Dr. Maureen Brummett, superintendent of Newington Public Schools, said, as per NBC News.

She added that after an investigation where students were quizzed, it became evident that the damage to the laptop was "done intentionally".

“That it wasn’t a malfunctioning Chromebook, but rather a student had intentionally done things to it that caused it to smoke and eventually melt."

Brummett also noted how expensive Chromebooks are to replace, and any intentional damage will not be covered by the school's insurance program, with the responsibility falling on the student who caused the purposeful damage to replace it themselves.

DJ Zordon, a Newington fire marshal, recalled to the news outlet what the classroom looked like upon arrival.

“The room at the time of the fire was filling with smoke. We did see video from students…and that’s one of the biggest things. The batteries that are essentially catching on fire, once they burn, they’re producing this toxic smoke."

Zordon added: "It’s more than just a trend. It causes a lot of disruption. The school has to be evacuated, firefighters respond to the fire house and subsequently to the scene, it takes resources from any other emergencies that might be happening at that time."

Meanwhile, Cromwell Fire Chief Jason Brade confirmed the school was evacuated by the time the fire crew arrived, as the hallways were "filling with smoke".

The laptop found in the classroom was "pretty much out, but on fire at one point".

Luckily, no one was hurt from the incident as Cromwell Fire Marshal Harold Holmes explained the state the laptop was in and how people could have been injured.

“The back cover where the battery cover was melted away, and the battery was smoking,” he said.

“The small ones like cell phones and laptops, it can cause an explosion. It could have potentially burned somebody. Shrapnel could have hit other people if it exploded.”

This isn't the only high school in the area where this has happened, since on Monday at both Derby High School and Cromwell High School experienced similar incidents.

“Today we received notice from three neighboring school districts about an ongoing TikTok trend influencing students to force electrical short circuits on Chromebook devices by inserting items such as paper clips, pencil graphite, pushpins, folded metallic gum wrappers, aluminum foil, etc. into the USB port," said Rocky Hill Superintendent Mark Zito.

"This action can spark or puncture the lithium battery in the device and poses a serious fire risk," he added and warned that students getting involved in the trend could face criminal charges as well as suspension or expulsion from school.

Currently, investigations are being carried out across the districts, and a warning of the trend's dangers has been issued to students and their families.

TikTok declined to comment but directed indy100 towards its community guidelines, which make it clear it does not allow showing or promoting dangerous activity and challenges and works proactively to identify, review, and remove content that violates its policies.

Additionally, users can easily flag content they are concerned about via the app's 'Dangerous activities and challenges' reporting category.

In October - December last year, out of the videos removed that violated TikTok's dangerous activities and challenges policy, 99.7 per cent were removed proactively, with 87.7 per cent of those videos receiving no views, while 93.4 per cent were removed within 24 hours.

Elsewhere, 'I'm so hungry I could eat...' TikTok trend explained, and restaurant staff claims Kylie Jenner left 4 per cent tip on $500 bill.

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