Zoe Roth cannot escape being known as Disaster Girl. Photo/Dave Roth

By Amanda Green, Refinery29

Zoe Roth, 16, is not a pyromaniac. But it’s true that, a few weeks ago, she and a friend spent two hours trying to light a campfire in Lake Tahoe, where Zoe’s working a summer restaurant job.

“Everything was wet, and it was so frustrating,” she laughs. “I was, like, ‘C’mon, this is my meme!'” That meme, known as Disaster Girl, shows 4-year-old Zoe smiling slyly at the camera while a house burns in the background. She looks adorable … and creepy as hell.

For the record, Zoe didn’t start that fire in the photograph. She was watching TV with her brother, Tristan, one Saturday morning in January 2004, when her mom said a house down the street was burning. Dave Roth, Zoe’s dad, quickly gathered the kids and his new digital camera.

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