Meredith Palmer is the character on The Office whose hair catches fire and who is bitten by a rabid bat. Played by Kate Flannery, Meredith is Dunder Mifflin’s blunt, hard-drinking supplier representative at the Scranton branch.
The hair-fire incident occurs during the Season 5 episode “Moroccan Christmas.” After drinking heavily and dancing at the office party, Meredith accidentally sets her hair alight. Michael Scott responds by staging an impromptu intervention, turning the chaotic party mishap into an attempt to address her drinking.
The bat incident happens in “The Bat,” when Dwight Schrute traps a bat in a plastic bag around Meredith’s head. The animal bites her, and Meredith later receives rabies treatment. The show repeatedly uses these incidents as examples of Meredith’s astonishing run of workplace misfortunes.
The detail is easy to confuse with other office disasters, especially Dwight’s fire drill in “Stress Relief.” That fire is a separate event; Meredith’s burning hair and bat bite are two different episodes centered on the same character.