A TEENAGER who became petrified of the sight of fire after being trapped in a burning tent has taken her first steps towards recovery.

Jess Stevens, 15, is likely to need counselling to get over the tent fire horror which landed her in hospital more than two weeks ago, said her mother, but she was showing signs of improvement.

Karen Stevens said her daughter could now look at images of fire on television, which had terrified her in the days after the blaze.

The Baxter College pupil has returned from hospital along with friend, Melissa Arnold, 12, who was the most seriously burnt in the dramatic fire, which happened in the Arnolds' back garden in Woodbury Road, Kidderminster on Sunday, May 2.

Mrs Stevens, 40, said: "Before, she couldn't look at any films but she is looking at films on television now.

"Every now and then they go quiet and withdrawn. Jess is going to need counselling. I think it is important because she is having nightmares. She wakes up crying. It is all part of the healing."

She said Jess, who suffered burns to her arms, chin and back, was slowly moving towards recovery: "We can't put a time limit on it. You can see an improvement day to day but, sometimes, she goes back to being a bit silent. It is just going to take time."

Melissa, who attends Birchen Coppice Middle School, has had a skin graft on her left arm but was learning to cope with the memory, said her mother, Deborah.

She said: "We will see how the next couple of weeks go with the skin graft and then we will consider if she wants to have help but, at this stage, I don't think she will need to. She has coped very well.

"She has had a lot of mates round and she is fine with them but she gets tired very quickly."

The two are off school following the fire, which was believed to have been started by a lighter.

Mrs Arnold, who praised staff at Birmingham Children's Hospital for their "brilliant" care of the girls, said neither of them had spoken about the moment when the lunchtime party, with five other friends, descended into chaos.

She said: "I haven't heard one of them, even with their mates, talk about it. I think they have just shut it out."