10-05-2025
Derby laptop fried in latest TikTok trend
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – A new social media trend led to a fried laptop at Derby High School. It's the latest TikTok trend wreaking havoc in schools.
The trend teaches kids how to fiddle with their school laptops to make smoke come out. It's been triggering chemical reactions leading to hazardous lithium battery fires.
Derby's fire department says the danger goes beyond flammability.
Parents are keeping an eye on the latest TikTok trends
'My son and his friend came home, I think it was last week, and said that someone in their class got their conduct card marked,' said Becky Howe, a mom in Winfield.
She says the student who got marked was fiddling with a laptop. She says the trend is not surprising.
'They always pass, they always cycle through, and there's always the next one,' Howe said.
Curiosity is getting the best of students at Derby High School.
'There's been a social media trend that's been online for about a week or so that demonstrates how you can cause a thermal runaway in a lithium-ion battery inside of a laptop,' said Derby Fire Marshal Jonathan Marr.
The trend is causing real concern.
'Once you cause this thermal runaway to occur, you can't stop it, and it'll continue to get worse until it burns itself out,' Marr said.
The fire department has to isolate the device. Because it's a chemical reaction, it can reignite, which also means it's more of a hazard.
'The gases that it releases are highly toxic,' Marr said.
The school district says the laptops cost almost $400 to replace.
'I think education is always important in that and communication is important… reminding students that there are real consequences to certain actions,' said Katie Carlson
'Parents need to be educated and our children need to be educated that they're actually dangerous,' Howe said.
The police chief in Derby says there can be serious legal consequences, too. Even incidents that happen in schools are presented to the DA's office.
If the DA decides to pursue the case, not leaving it up to the school to decide appropriate discipline, the chief says the case would go to court, and a student could be charged with arson.
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