Kids, don’t try this at home.
Concord fire Chief Dan Andrus wants parents to talk to their children about copying a dangerous stunt that left an 8-year-old boy badly burned after he lit hand sanitizer on fire to copy a YouTube video.
“I’m appalled and frightened by the prevalence of videos purporting to show tricks you can do with hand sanitizer and a lighter,” Andrus said. “It’s a recipe for disaster. I’m at a loss for words to say how dangerous this can be.”
Earlier this week, a Concord boy was taken to a Massachusetts hospital for serious burns after trying to copy a stunt he saw on YouTube in which someone covers their hands in sanitizer and lights them on fire.
His mother, Tashia Ditucci, of Concord, told WMUR that she woke up Monday to the sounds of her son screaming.
“I heard awful, blood-curdling cries and screams,” Ditucci said. “My son came downstairs and he was really red. You could see burns all over him.”
Her son, James, student at Abott-Downing Elementary School, suffered second-degree burns to 15 percent of his body during a sleep-over with his older brother and cousin. Ditucci said when the children tried to imitate the video, the sanitizer got on her son’s shirt, and the fire spread. The other boys quickly put the fire out.
Ditucci told WMUR she is glad the fire was extinguished quickly.
“They said if my son was on fire for more than another minute, he would have been dead,” she said.
After watching YouTube videos like the one the child was trying to copy, Andrus said he wanted to urge parents to talk to their children about fire safety.
Liquid hand sanitizer is alcohol based and extremely flammable, Andrus said.
Andrus said burns to the hands are extremely dangerous and can be permanently debilitating. He also reiterated that lighting hand sanitizer on fire in any house or structure can start a quick blaze.
“It spreads so quickly,” Andrus said. “Fire doubles in size about every minute.”
Ditucci took to Facebook to make parents aware of the danger, too. She said doctors are optimistic about her son’s recovery, and recently posted on social media saying her son’s burns are looking better and doctors and family are hopeful he won’t have to undergo skin grafts.
Concord Police are still investigating the incident. Deputy Police Chief Keith Mitchell said he expected more information to be available next week.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)