BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — 15-year-old Emily Peters was spending New Year's Eve like many others, with friends. She and a friend we're enjoying a bon fire when things got out of hand, and Emily needed to be taken to the hospital with severe burns.

Now nearly five months later, Emily is going home.

Doctors said when Emily was admitted, she had severe burns over nearly 20% of her body. They even worried that they wouldn't be able to save some of her extremities.

Fortunately that wasn't the case and on Thursday, Emily walked out of the hospital on her own.

There to greet her were dozens of people, from family members and friends to hospital staff and firefighters.

Emily and the Kern County Fire Department want to remind the public of the importance for fire safety, esspecially as we enter into the summer months.

For more information about resources available to burn survivors, click here.