Boy, 11, suffers burns to body after attempting TikTok’s ‘Fire Challenge’

A US boy has shared how a dangerous TikTok challenge left him severely injured with burns to 35 per cent of his body.

A boy from the US has described how he injured himself from a life threatening stunt while performing a TikTok challenge.

Nicholas Howell shared his near death experience on PeopleTV’s entertainment news program People, available to stream on Flash. The then 11-year-old suffered burns on 35 per cent of his body while attempting the social platform’s “Fire Challenge”.

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Nicholas Howell and his mother

According to People, Nicholas, now 12, was on the front porch of his grandmother’s home in Miami with his younger brother and cousins. While his parents were in another room, the kids were joking and talking about TikTok videos – including one clip of the “Fire Challenge”.

“I poured a little bit of rubbing alcohol on the [concrete] floor, lit it and put it out,” he told the program.

“But I guess the bottle had caught on fire, and it exploded. I started burning.”

The youngster looked down and saw flames and ran to the house screaming for his parents to help him. People reported that Nicholas' father and two uncles patted him down and sprayed him with water before a police officer at a local school was alerted and the boy was flown to a hospital in Florida.

The pre-teen’s mum, Estela, 30, said it was horrible.

“It was traumatising, heartbreaking and devastating,” she said.

Nicholas spent six months in hospital and had to go through 50 surgeries. Picture: People/Flash.

Nicholas spent six months in hospital and had to go through 50 surgeries. The damaged nerves in his legs meant the boy had to relearn how to walk and get into a car.

“Unfortunately, Nick had to go through this to understand that there are real life consequences to our actions and he paid the price for it,” Estela said.

“The likes isn’t what’s going to save you”.

Nicholas suffered burns on 35 per cent of his body. Picture: People/Flash.

TikTok declined to comment to People but did release an updated safety policy in February.

The company stated, in part, “We do not permit users to share content depicting, promoting, normalising or glorifying dangerous acts that may lead to serious injury or death.”

Originally published as Boy, 11, suffers burns to body after attempting TikTok’s ‘Fire Challenge’