CENTRALIA, Wash. — Two students at Centralia have been arrested for arson after police say they burned a school’s Chromebook laptop on Thursday.
Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney Johathan Meyer says his office requested the two be held in Juvenile Detention, but the two were released to house arrest during court Friday morning.
Pictures of the damage shared with KIRO 7 by Centralia Police showed a burned desk, pieces of safety pins and paperclips, and a computer with severely burned and melted plastic.
In a press release, Centralia Police Chief Andy Caldwell says the two students “are alleged to have intentionally set the laptop on fire” as first responders found a partially burned laptop with smoke pouring out from the battery compartment when they responded to the middle school.
Caldwell says this appears to be linked to a “disturbing” social media challenge where students set fire to electronics and share the videos on social media.
“The risk involved of hurting other people and damaging government property is too great. We need to send a strong message of zero tolerance,” Caldwell said in an interview with KIRO 7 News, “If it’s reported, we will take action, we will pursue criminal charges the moment we respond.”
The trend has also garnered attention across the nation, as the New York Division of the Department of Homeland Security posted a warning to parents.
As does Caldwell, NYDHS urges parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of this kind of activity. Outside of the danger of fire, the toxic fumes are hazardous to people’s health, the NYDHS post says.
“Parents: learn what’s going on the internet. I feel like this is more prevalent than most of us believe. Talk to your kids, tell them there’s going to be consequences for their actions if they do this.” Caldwell said.
The teacher at the middle school threw the laptop out of the window after evacuating the kids from the classroom. The Riverside Fire Authority then soaked it in water, one of the few available strategies as fire departments across the country try and figure out the best way to put out fires from batteries.
“Depending on the size, type, and chemistry of the battery, they can create some unique fire suppression strategies,” Kevin Anderson said, the Riverside Fire chief.
While fire extinguishers don’t make the fires worse, it’s still being determined how effective they are with heavy metal fires. Water is one strategy, though there are environmental concerns about the melted plastics, heavy metals, and chemicals in the battery washing into streams, water supplies, or water tables. Anderson says letting batteries burn is another strategy. It’s not ideal from an air-quality perspective, but allowing the battery to burn through all the fuel for a fire reduces the possibility of batteries reigniting hours or even days later, which is a concern for firefighters like Anderson.
“We have the challenge of secondary incidents that can occur.” he said.
The two teenagers who were arrested will have an arraignment later this month. If convicted, the juvenile penalty for arson is between 103 to 129 months.
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