A 12-year-old Michigan girl is hospitalized with severe burns after attempting a disturbing trend dubbed the “fire challenge” on Friday, Fox 2 Detroit reports.
The girl’s mother, Brandi Owens, reportedly told the media outlet that the injury happened after she was making pancakes for her daughter, 12-year-old Timiyah Landers, and two of the girl’s friends in her Detroit home. After making the food, Owens went to take a nap but was woken by a “small explosion” and found Timiyah engulfed in flames.
“She came running up my hallway on fire from her knees to her hair,” Owens told the news station.
The mother’s fiance reportedly put Timiyah in a bathtub before the girl was rushed to the hospital. She was found to have burns on over 49 percent of her body and is expected to be hospitalized for several months. She is covered from “head-to-toe” in bandages as she lays in an intensive care hospital bed, according to Fox 2.
The disturbing challenge involves dousing yourself with rubbing alcohol before setting yourself on fire, as one of the girls had presumably seen in a Youtube video before the tragedy occurred.
“These kids are trying these YouTube challenges,” Owens said, “that’s where they get this challenges is YouTube, and they’re trying it with their friends.”
The mother told Fox 2 that she wants Youtube to ban any of the challenge videos posing a danger to children, and also wants to warn other parents.
“Monitor these kids, especially with these phones, and if I could after with this happening – my kids would never be able to be on social media. No more iPhones. Nothing,”
A GoFundMe crowdfunding effort has been established to help the family during this trying time.
[Feature photo: Timiyah Landers, GoFundMe]