--- description: A 12-year-old girl from Detroit is in intensive care after attempting the "fire challenge," a viral stunt some teenagers are trying. title: A 12-Year-Old Girl Who Took Part in the 'Fire Challenge' Is in Intensive Care With Burns Covering Half Her Body image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb317de561e0c9a38/698938447cdbace885d5db82/fire-challenge.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Michigan](/tag/michigan/) ## Michigan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A 12-Year-Old Girl Who Took Part in the 'Fire Challenge' Is in Intensive Care With Burns Covering Half Her Body  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:04 PM CUTPublished: Aug 22, 2018 12:19 PM CUT  Jernej Furman / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:04 PM CUTPublished: Aug 22, 2018 12:19 PM CUT A viral stunt gone wrong landed a 12-year-old girl from Detroit in the hospital on Friday. Teenagers taking part in the “fire challenge,” which dates back to at least 2014, typically pour small amounts of rubbing alcohol onto their bodies, light it on fire and film the whole ordeal. The idea is to quickly extinguish the flames with water — but on Friday, Timiyah Landers landed in intensive care after she lost control of the blaze and became engulfed in flames, [the Washington _Post_ reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/21/she-looked-like-a-fireball-internet-fire-challenge-leaves-12-year-old-detroit-girl-severely-burned/?noredirect=on&utm%5Fterm=.70bb89a7eac8 "undefined"). Landers “looked like a fireball,” her mother, Brandi Owens, told the _Post_. “She was yelling, ‘Help me.’” Owens and her fiancé tried to put out the fire, but Landers was reportedly left with second- and third-degree burns covering roughly half of her body, and will need multiple surgeries to recover. Her mother told the _Post_ that she believes the effects of the accident were compounded by flammable perfume Landers was wearing at the time. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control does not track data specifically related to the fire challenge, a number of injuries resulting from the stunt have made news over the past few years. Last month, for example, a 12-year-old boy from South Carolina had to be [transported to a Georgia hospital by helicopter](https://www.wltx.com/article/news/young-sc-boy-burns-more-than-40-of-his-body-doing-fire-challenge/101-573464177 "undefined") after attempting the challenge. The stunt brings to mind other headline-grabbing, potentially dangerous teenage stunts, from [the deodorant challenge](http://time.com/5270672/deodorant-challenge-trend-burns-warning/ "undefined") to [the choking game](http://time.com/5189584/choking-game-pass-out-challenge/ "undefined"). While actual participation in these trends varies, their prominence online has been enough to put some young people in danger. During the first 15 days of 2018 alone — during the [height of the Tide Pod challenge](http://time.com/5104225/tide-pod-challenge/ "undefined") — the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported reported 39 cases of teenagers misusing laundry pods. Deborah A.P. Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council, said in a statement provided to TIME that it’s crucial to steer kids away from these challenges. “It is terrifying that our children are permanently injuring themselves for the sake of followers,” Hersman said. “Social media challenges create instant, but hollow connections. Real friends keep each other safe.” In at least one instance, the fire challenge has also transcended the teenage demographic: In 2014, [a North Carolina woman was arrested](https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article9149435.html "undefined") and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile for helping her 16-year-old son complete the online dare. Owens, at least, is using her daughter’s case to warn other kids and parents to avoid the fire challenge. “I don’t want to see another parent in my situation at all,” she [told the Detroit _Free Press_](https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/08/21/detroit-burned-fire-challenge-youtube/1050140002/ "undefined"). “It’s not good and its devastating.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5373180/fire-challenge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5373180/fire-challenge/"},"headline":"A 12-Year-Old Girl Who Took Part in the 'Fire Challenge' Is in Intensive Care With Burns Covering Half Her Body","datePublished":"2018-08-22T12:19:31.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T18:04:51.000Z","description":"She 'looked like a fireball'","url":"https://time.com/5373180/fire-challenge/","keywords":["Michigan","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb317de561e0c9a38/698938447cdbace885d5db82/fire-challenge.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb317de561e0c9a38/698938447cdbace885d5db82/fire-challenge.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Close-Up Of Burning Matchstick Against Black Background","caption":"Close-Up Of Burning Matchstick Against Black Background","creditText":"Jernej Furman / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/michigan/","name":"Michigan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5373180/fire-challenge/","name":"A 12-Year-Old Girl Who Took Part in the 'Fire Challenge' Is in Intensive Care With Burns Covering Half Her Body"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Teenager Was Left With Second-Degree Burns After Taking Part in 'The Deodorant Challenge'","description":"A U.K. mother revealed her daughter was left with second-degree burns, after taking part in an online trend called “The Deodorant Challenge.”","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/VTMcAQB8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-05-09T15:07:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VTMcAQB8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5373180/fire-challenge/","duration":"PT47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5373180/fire-challenge/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```