A SEVEN-week-old baby boy who was plucked from a bedroom just two minutes before it erupted into an inferno is recovering in hospital.

Timothy Dudman from Chagford said his little grandson, Cosmo Hamilton-Davies, was a sick little boy but extremely brave after he suffered smoke inhalation and radiated heat burns in a house fire on Saturday night.

Mr Dudman has praised the emergency services and people of Chagford whose prompt response enabled Cosmo to have the best possible chance of survival.

Colette Hamilton-Davies and her son had been staying with her parents in Chagford when the fire struck, around half an hour after Cosmo had been put to bed.

Alerted by a 'different sort of crying' on the baby monitor Mrs Hamilton Davies rushed up the stairs and ran into the burning room to grab her son from his pram.

Fire crews were on the scene within minutes and administered oxygen to the child who was having breathing difficulties. Cosmo was immediately driven to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and later transferred to the intensive care unit at Bristol Children's Hospital.

His grandfather said the little boy and the whole family were 'terribly lucky' and 'amazingly fortunate to have such a magnificent team of retained firefighters in Chagford.'

'Within two minutes of my daughter getting the baby out, the room and stairs were an inferno,' he said.

'Thank god for the baby monitor and the Chagford Fire Service who were fantastic.

'Cosmo is still a sick little boy but he is out of danger.'

The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault in a light which was switched off in the bedroom.

Mr Dudman, who is president of Chagford Cricket Club, was having dinner at the time with the family and members of the cricket team following a six-a-side tournament.

He said luckily there were lots of mobile telephones around and everybody rallied around to help.

'I cannot thank everyone enough — the situation was very, very critical at the time and everybody was brilliant,' he said.

Chagford Fire Station Commander Iain Rice said the crew were on the scene within six minutes and were assisted by firefighters from Moretonhampstead, Okehampton and Bovey Tracey.

'The baby was in quite a severe state — he had burns from radiated heat the great worry was his breathing,' he said.

'He was driven straight to hospital in a police car and the fire service went along to administer oxygen.'

The firefighter said an old fashioned foam-filled chair in the room caught alight and intensified the fire.

'It was a very severe fire and our crews had quite a punishing time getting on top of it.

'The mother was very brave and very determined. Another 30 seconds and it could have been a very different outcome.'

Mr Rice has stressed the importance of installing smoke alarms in houses.