Authorities issued a warning Wednesday about a hazardous social media trend involving Chromebooks that they said could create fires and toxic vapors.

Huntington school superintendent Beth McCoy emailed parents about the trend in which some students remove graphite fom mechanical pencil refills and insert the material into ports on Chromebooks. The action not only damages the computers but can cause electrical issues, injuries or fire.

The state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services weighed in late Wednesday afternoon with a harsher warning, saying, “Tampering with the ports and mechanics of laptops is a serious fire hazard and completely unacceptable. With a new trend sweeping across social media, it is crucial parents and guardians sit down with their children to talk about this danger and put an end to this once and for all. Not only is there an enormous risk of fire when lithium-ion batteries fail, they also produce large quantities of toxic and flammable vapor.”

She asked parents to discuss the implications with their children of participating in the trend.

Chromebooks were widely distributed in school districts when the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools to close and students switched to remote learning.