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DERBY — A deputy fire marshal said students trying a TikTok “challenge” caused a laptop to catch fire at Derby High School Monday morning (May 5).
No injuries were reported. Police are investigating.
The fire department responded to a fire alarm at the school off Chatfield Street shortly after 8 a.m. Ansonia firefighters were sent to the scene as well.
The first firefighters on scene saw a smoke condition inside the building, which had been evacuated. School officials told them the cause was a laptop located in a classroom.
The fire did not extend beyond the laptop. Firefighters removed the laptop, ventilated the area to get rid of the smoke, then used meters to make sure the air was OK.
“Basically four kids had a TikTok challenge going,” Derby Deputy Fire Marshal Richard Tardie said. “They were playing around with laptops. There were three (laptops) involved, but only one caught fire.”
Tardie said four students were involved.
TikTok is a video-based social media platform. It has a genre of videos that show people sticking items into laptop ports in an effort to generate smoke and flames. That’s apparently what happened at the high school.
“Somehow or other they stuck pens or pencils into the machine, and it caused the batteries to cook,” Tardie said.
Firefighters declared the scene under control as of 8:23 a.m., according to emergency radio transmissions.
The school sent alerts at 8:32 a.m. and 9:19 a.m.
Derby High School Principal Jennifer Olson sent the following message to the community at about 12:30 p.m. Monday:
Dear DHS Parents and Guardians,
I wanted to take this opportunity to provide some additional information about the emergency evacuation that occurred at Derby High School this morning. At approximately 8:07 AM a teacher observed smoke coming from a student’s laptop in the classroom. The teacher promptly evacuated the classroom and pulled an emergency fire alarm. Students and staff evacuated and Derby Fire and Derby Police Departments responded to the scene. We were cleared to return to the building at 8:57 am.
Through the course of our investigation, we determined that the smoke was caused by student laptop(s) that were intentionally tampered with as part of a social media trend. We take this matter extremely seriously, as the safety and well-being of our students and staff is always our top priority.
We urge all families to talk with their children about the risks and consequences of participating in social media challenges. While these may seem funny or entertaining at the moment, these actions can pose real dangers and result in serious disciplinary outcomes.
Thank you for your continued partnership in supporting a safe and responsible school environment. We are grateful for the swift and thorough response from the Derby Fire and Police to ensure our school community is safe.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
Sincerely,
Jen Olson
Principal
