A girl playing with a lighter was badly burned after a bottle of alcohol caught on fire Thursday inside a Fort Lauderdale home, officials said.
Fire officials were dispatched to a structure fire before 7 p.m. in the 1700 block of Northwest 8th Street. When they arrived, the fire was out, but they found a 9-year-old girl suffering second-degree burns to 30 percent of her body.
The girl told paramedics she went to the bathroom while her parents were outside with the other children and started playing with a lighter. That's when the bottle of alcohol caught on fire, fire officials said.
The girl was transported to Broward Health and will be taken to Jackson Memorial's burn unit.
Fire officials say this incident was purely accidental and there are no pending charges, but they encourage parents to stay vigilant especially during the summer months when there is a rise in pediatric injuries because children are bored and out of school.
