Firefighters Save 22 Pit Bulls, Guinea Pig

An adult Guinea pig and as many as 22 pit bulls, most of them puppies, were saved from a fire in northern Detroit Monday morning. (Screenshot via WJBK-TV video)

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Detroit firefighters are being hailed as heroes after they rushed into a burning house Monday morning and saved nearly two dozen pit bulls and one Guinea pig from almost certain death,

Demetrious Walton, 41, who lives in the house in northern Detroit with his wife and five children, told the Detroit Free Press he was watching television when the fire broke out about 7 a.m.

Walton, who sometimes breeds and sells pit bulls, told WJBK-TV two of the adult dogs followed him out when he saved his wife and a daughter from the blaze.

When firefighters arrived, they saved the rest of the dogs, along with an adult Guinea pig named Kelly.

There were as many as 22 dogs in the house, many of them puppies living in the basement, near where the fire broke out. Walton said the lights in the house got hot, then dim and he heard a crackling noise that led him to the circuit breaker in the basement.

The house is uninhabitable, and Walton isn’t sure what his family will do, but said he’s relieved there were no casualties.

“Everybody’s terrific and living and healthy,” he told the Free Press. “So, hey, that’s a blessing right there.”

They were alert and doing well, though wet. Two of the puppies were coughing.

“We don’t know what we are going to do,” Walton told WWJ Radio/CBS Detroit. “I guess we’ve got to pray on the Lord and just, you know, let Him work it out for us.”

It’s unclear if charges will be filed against Walton for harboring so many dogs, firefighters said.

The family lost many of their belongings, according to reports.