‘Disaster Girl’ Zoe Roth recreates the iconic meme 20 years later

Fast forward two decades, and Roth, now in her 20s, decided to revisit her viral fame. She recreated the meme, this time with no flames in sight. Sharing the updated version on Instagram, she captioned it cheekily, “Okay fine…” proving she’s still got that same playful energy that made the original so unforgettable.

Screengrabs of her Instagram stories:

Original ‘Disaster Girl’ meme

Zoe Roth recreated the meme

In an interview with BuzzFeedVideo, Zoë Roth shared the backstory of the iconic photo that turned into a widely recognised meme. Recalling the day, Roth described it as an ordinary afternoon spent watching TV with her family. “It was a normal day,” she explained, “until the fire sirens started blaring.” Curious, the family stepped outside to see smoke billowing from a house just two blocks away.

Roth recounted how they decided to check it out up close. “My dad had just bought a camera, so we walked over, thinking it was a real fire,” she said. However, upon arrival, they noticed something unusual—the firefighters were not trying to extinguish the flames. That is when it became clear the house had been donated for a training exercise.

As a child, Roth admitted she didn’t fully grasp what was happening. “I remember looking around, trying to understand the situation,” she said. Amid the confusion, her dad, who had been snapping pictures of the scene, turned to her and said, “It’s your turn to smile.” And that is how the famous smirking photo came to be. Now 20 years old, Roth reflected on the moment, noting it was simply how she smiled back then.