A 16-year-old Santa Ana boy was left with scars that will last a lifetime after setting himself on fire to settle an online dare, according to fire officials.
The unidentified lad is believed to be the latest victim of the “Fire Challenge” that is spreading on social media like wild you-know-what.
It involves putting an accelerant–in this case nail polish remover–on your chest, flicking your Bic, having it catch fire, recording the human fireball, dousing oneself and then posting the video online.
But in some cases, the person on fire does not get to the water or wet blanket or fire extinguisher in time to prevent major burns, which is what happened to this teen in the 900 block of South Standard Street Thursday afternoon.
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Orange County Fire Authority Captain Larry Kurtz told KCAL/Channel 9 the boy was taken to a hospital with first- and second-degree burns to his hip, neck and face.
His injuries are not considered life-threatening, but Kurtz said they very well could have been had the boy inhaled the super heated gases, which can destroy lung tissue and prove fatal.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.