A 12-year-old girl has been left covered in burns after taking part in 'the fire challenge', a worrying YouTube trend which encourages teens to douse themselves in flammable liquid and set themselves alight. Tamiya Landers performed the challenge in front of two friends at her house in Detroit, Michigan, on Friday after her mother had made them pancakes. Within minutes of her mother leaving the girls alone, there was a 'loud explosion' and Timiyah engulfed in flames. Her stepfather put her in the bath and immediately began spraying water on her body while her mother tore off her burning clothes. She was then taken to the hospital where she remains in intensive care, relying on a ventilator to breathe for her, with burns over 49 per cent of her body. Everything is burned on her,' her mother Brandi Owens told Fox 2 Detroit. She was taking a nap when she heard the explosion. Tamiya then came running down the hallway, completely on fire and screaming for help. 'She comes running up my hallway on fire. 'From her knees to her hair, on fire.' Without knowing how she was set alight, Owens and her fiance put her daughter in the bath to try to put out the flames. 'Her hair was on fire.' He started with her hair and started spraying her but the fire started rising and rising and I'm trying to rip her clothes off,' she said. It was not until afterwards that Tamiya's friends admitted they had been watching 'fire challenge' videos on YouTube which she decided to copy.
She is thought to have used a cherry-scented Bah & Body Works spray to catch the flame. The trend swept the internet in 2014 and involved some youngster dying. One woman was arrested for helping her teenage son set himself alight for the purposes of filming a video. Most of the youngsters who participated used rubbing alcohol. Tamiya's mother wants the footage, which still exists online, to be removed by YouTube. 'Monitor these kids. 'Especially with these phones.' If I could, with this happening, my kids would never be able to go on social media. 'No more iPhones. Nothing.' she said
