Tony Robbins firewalking event in Dallas sees five hospitalised after stepping across hot coals

A crew member said those who sustained burn injuries and blisters may have been walking too slowly because they were busy recording the experience on social media

Self-help guru Tony Robbins has used the fire walk as a key element in his motivational seminars since the mid-1980s ((Rex Features))

Five attendees at a motivational seminar were taken to hospital in Dallas after sustaining burn injuries as they walked barefoot across hot coals at the urging of self-help guru Tony Robbins. Several dozen more were evaluated for burns by fire and rescue teams, who arrived at the Texas city’s Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Centre shortly after 11pm on Thursday night.

“A lot of the attendees were asked to walk across hot coals, and as a result, a lot of the people sustained burn injuries,” said a spokesman for Dallas emergency services.

The fire walk comes at the climax of the first day of Mr Robbins’s three-day “Unleash the Power Within” seminar. According to Mr Robbins’s website, the exercise is designed to help people overcome fears and perform feats that they previously believed impossible. The fire walk, it says, will embolden people to “conquer the other fires of [their] life with ease.”

Mr Robbins, the bestselling author of books such as Awaken the Giant Within and Unlimited Power, charges up to $3,000 (£2,200) for seminars attended by thousands, where participants are reportedly inspired to achieve their “peak state” before strolling calmly across a 15ft bed of hot coals.

Robbins Research International played down the incident, saying that in fact the exercise had gone as planned, but one attendee had overreacted. “In Dallas tonight, someone not familiar with the fire walk observed the event and called 911 erroneously reporting hundreds of people requiring medical attention for severe burns,” Mr Robbins’s firm said in a statement.

“While we are grateful to the quick and robust response from Dallas emergency services, only five of 7,000 participants requested any examination beyond what was readily available on site. We are pleased to have completed another successful fire walk for 7,000 guests and look forward to the remainder of an outstanding weekend with them.”

Tad Schinke, a crew member at Mr Robbins’s events, told the Dallas Morning News that those who suffered burns and blisters from the fire walk may have been moving too slowly because they were preoccupied posting the experience on social media. “I’ve seen people halfway through the fire walk pulling their phones out to video themselves,” he said. “It’s frustrating. My job is to prepare them for the walk, but once they’re out on the coals, they’re on their own.”

The fire walk reportedly led to similar scenes in 2012, when more than 20 attendees at a Robbins seminar in San Jose, California were treated for burns.