I suffered third-degree burns to 70% of my body after being engulfed in a ball of fire aged 10 – now I’m a beauty queen
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Danette Burzlaff-Haag was just ten when her house was destroyed with 27 people inside. Her parents were hosting an event for local children in their Iowa-based home when a faulty valve in the furnace caused a gas leak. When Danette's mum turned on the hot water, it ignited the fumes - and seconds later, the house went up in flames.
![[Danette Burzlaff-Haag was just ten when her house was destroyed with more than 20 people inside]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/619fb924-8977-4657-b6e3-3ae72942b9fd.jpg?strip=all&w=472)
A ball of fire emerged from the basement stairs, engulfing Danette and her family home, and in a blink of an eye everything inside was destroyed. Danette suffered third-degree burns to nearly 70% of her body, and she and her dad endured life-threatening injuries - but miraculously everyone who had attended the event survived.
![[Since then, the mother-of-four has managed to turn her life around, thanks to her resilience]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NINTCHDBPICT000961505564.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Recalling the fateful day, Danette, now 53, said she ''had an emergency tracheotomy and was attached to a ventilator'' which kept her alive. "I was in the burn centre for months and was in and out of the hospital for reconstructive surgeries until I was 20.
"I have had more surgeries than I can count (somewhere around 30), most of which were skin grafts, creating more wounds and adding to the extent of my forever scars," Danette, who lives in Windsor, Colorado, remembers. Although she survived the explosion, rebuilding her life while experiencing significant scarring, was difficult.
Danette had to wear pressure garments, splints, and face masks throughout her school years, which made life "emotionally excruciating," and the young girl had to get used to having a scar-covered body. "I knew I didn't fit in and felt like I never would. I was hopeless, helpless, and devastated throughout my teen years and beyond," the now 53-year-old mum said.
