The Office of the Fire Marshal is spreading the word about an alarming trend spreading across social media and our schools. This new viral challenge is seeing students purposely tampering with their school supplied Chromebooks and laptops in an attempt to cause the device to short-circuit and stop functioning.
While this may seem like a harmless joke to get out of school work, it can quickly become a dangerous and even life threatening situation. With these devices containing lithium-ion batteries, short circuiting or damaging the electronic components can quickly lead to the devices and their batteries overheating or catching fire, making it far more serious than a simple joke.
When a lithium-ion battery is damaged in such a manor, it can easily catch fire on it’s own and enter what is called “thermal runaway.” This means the battery will burn hotter and faster, creating its own fuel and oxygen to continue burning, and can be incredibly hard to extinguish. The fires caused can quickly spread through the intense heat, and the gases produced are incredibly toxic. The damages created by this type of fire can be extensive, not to mention dangerous to health and life.
This is about more than just a joke, or tech misuse, or getting out of class early. This is about kids safety in schools, about the consequences of intentionally starting a fire and the cost of the damages, and about stopping a silly trend before it takes lives.
Talk to your kids or students about lithium-ion battery safety, and the dangers of potentially starting a fire at school or home. Going viral on TikTok is not worth the potential damages, or loss of life.
For more lithium-ion battery safety advice, visit the Charged For Life website.