The Sturtridge family of Rill Farm, Callington, recently survived a fire in their home which could easily have claimed their lives had it not been for the warning from their smoke alarm.

Adam Sturtridge, his wife Elisabeth who was seven months pregnant at the time, and their two young sons, Isaac (six) and Jacob (five), were all asleep in bed on the evening of January 10 when Adam was woken by the sound of the smoke alarm at about midnight.

He looked down the stairs to see nothing more than a wisp of smoke in the hallway but on opening the kitchen door he was faced with a choking wall of smoke.

Quickly closing the door again he raced upstairs and while he phoned the fire brigade, Elisabeth went to the children, who were sitting up in bed awake having heard the alarm.

She quickly took them outside the house, grabbing some coats on the way to keep warm.

In under 10 minutes the Callington Brigade were on the scene and had to use breathing apparatus to tackle the fire which they managed to confine to the first floor, although they said the heat above their heads was so intense they thought at one stage it had got into the ceiling.

It was discovered that the fire had been started by a log falling out of the woodburner stove in the kitchen which had a faulty catch on to the floor near some paper which ignited. The flames then spreading to the adjacent wood basket.

Adam says he had put the log into the stove just before he went to bed so the fire could have begun within five minutes of him going upstairs.

He had only been asleep for an hour when the alarm woke him and in that short time most of the wood basket and its contents had been burned out, the floorboards were on fire, as was the wood panelling on the walls, and so intense was the heat the plastic kitchen clock above the stove had melted into a ball.

The couple, who welcomed their third son Gabriel into the world on February 28 say they are convinced that without the smoke alarm they would have known nothing about the fire and they would all have been overcome by the smoke while still in their beds.

Elisabeth says she is very thankful that she changed the battery just before Christmas to make sure it was in working order.

They wish to publicly thank the Callington crew for their swift action and for the wonderful way in which they looked after Jacob and Isaac which prevented them from being frightened.

Most of all they want people without smoke alarms to purchase one as soon as possible.

Adam said 'Go and get one. It may save the lives of your family one day'.