TikTok: @kieranknightley, Kieran Murray
A TikToker living in New York City went mega viral when he called the fire department after spotting flames through an apartment window, only to discover it was a video on a large TV.
On October 2, Kieran Murray posted a TikTok where he said "the craziest thing just happened" and explained he thought he'd seen a fire in a building so he called 911, and shared footage that zoomed into an apartment window which appeared to show large flames flickering through the glass.
The video then showed two fire engines arriving on the scene while their sirens blared, before it cut back to Murray who revealed it had been a false alarm, and the fire in question had actually been a video of a yule log on an 8-foot television screen.
Murray told Insider in an email exchange the event had actually unfolded a few days prior to the upload, at 6:30 p.m. on September 30, in Manhattan. Clare Bourke, the deputy press secretary for the New York City Fire Department confirmed to Insider that these details and the video match a call that was made at that time, in which their units responded and "determined there was no fire at this location."
The upload quickly went mega-viral receiving 10.3 million views and over 6,700 comments, many of which wrote they would have responded in exactly the same way, as the fire looked so realistic.
"You did the right thing. It's genuinely better to have called and it be a false alarm than have an actual emergency unfold with everyone ignoring it," one viewer wrote in a popular comment that received over 46,500 likes.
Although the majority of comments appeared to side with Murray, he said there were some "from people who said I should have minded my own business."
"Maybe let someone who lives in the building call the police next time," one viewer wrote beneath Murray's viral video.
"This is why patience is important," another added.
Murray told Insider that being Australian he is "very conscious of bushfires" so called 911 as soon as he saw flames. "In hindsight, I should have questioned the absence of smoke but the fire looked so real," he said.
He said he went down to the street to greet the fire department and show them the video to help locate the fire, which is when he was directed to the fire chief.
"They had already dismissed the fire by this time but he humored me and watched the video anyway," Murray said. He added this was when he was informed by the fire chief what the flames had actually been.
Murray said he "sheepishly" apologized and "felt embarrassed for wasting the FDNY's time" as he had so much respect for them but added they were "very understanding" and "incredibly nice" about it.
Murray wondered if he should have waited to see smoke, and asked his viewers in the caption of a follow-up video if he did the right thing or if he was "a big stupid dum dum," but he told Insider he's ultimately glad he alerted the authorities.
"I believe I did the right thing. It's better to be safe than sorry. It would have been so awful if the fire was real and I decided to overlook it," he said.
Bourke from the FDNY agreed and encouraged people to get in contact if they believe they suspect a fire.
"Please call 911 if you think there is an emergency and let us make the determination. In emergencies, seconds count, and quickly alerting first responders is imperative."
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.
