New Kids ‘Outlet Challenge’ Has Parents and Firemen Concerned

Remember the 'Ice Bucket Challenge' for ALS a few years back? It was some social media fun that raised money for a great cause. Since then there have been lots of new challenges for not so positive reasons.

The latest one making its way around Tik-Tok, Youtube, and other social media sites, is called the 'Outlet Challenge'.

What kids are doing is partially plugging a phone charger into and outlet and then dropping a penny onto the exposed plug prongs. When the copper comes in contact with the prongs there is a rush of electrical current. This can, of course, cause a fire.

Dakota News Now is quoting firefighter David Jones as stating “By the time they could see a fire happening, it could be to the point that a fire extinguisher may not control it, especially if it’s inside the wall itself. You’re more than likely not going to able to control it at all. It will need to burn through the wall before a fire extinguisher will be able to do anything about it. At that time if there is a fire and they can’t see it when we get there, we will have to break through the wall to find that fire and also check for extension into the wall.”

In some states, this action can be considered a felony and if caught you could be charged with arson.