8-year-old girl severely burned after candle catches shirt on fire

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    SALT LAKE CITY, UT (KSL) — An 8-year-old Idaho girl underwent surgery at the University of Utah Hospital after a candle caught her shirt on fire over the weekend, leaving her with severe burns.

Aaliyah Shepard will likely need several additional surgeries in the short-term and long-term for the burns on her torso, arms and the back of her head, according to mother Tia Simmons.

“Today they were trying to remove all of the skin and trying to put on cadaver skin,” Simmons said on Tuesday.

Simmons said her daughter was in another room in their house Saturday when the accident happened.

“She got too close to the candle and her whole shirt caught on fire, and it just engulfed her in flames,” she said.

According to Simmons, the sequined shirt burned up in under 15 seconds and it was unclear why that happened so quickly.

The mother questioned if the sequins played a role.

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