Guinea Pig Rescue Community Rallies Around Hampton Fire Victims

When Jean Solis Fusaro saw news of the fire at her friend’s house in Hampton Wednesday morning, she was in “complete shock” at the destruction and loss of a young boy’s life.

The overnight fire at 32 Thorwald Ave. gutted the home. Seven of eight people in the house at the time escaped, but the body of a 7-year-old boy was found inside the home after the fire was extinguished. State Fire Marshal Paul Parisi said Friday morning that an autopsy was completed on Thursday and that an identification and cause of fire is expected to be released on Friday.

That the house was also home to The Guinea Pig Sanctuary made Fusaro and other members of the guinea pig rescue community decide they needed to do whatever they could to help.

“My heart was completely broken, and I could not believe what I was seeing,” said Fusaro, who founded Ocean State Guinea Pig Rescue in Ashaway, R.I. "It took me awhile to process what had happened and then I immediately knew that I had to do something.

“A lot of people were messaging me asking questions about how they could help, so I decided to step up and start the GoFundMe pages.”

Fusaro began one fund to benefit the Guinea Pig Sanctuary and a separate page to reimburse Kim Lone, owner of the house and operator of the Guinea Pig Sanctuary, for her medical expenses. In a few hours Thursday afternoon, the pages raised nearly $3,000 toward a $20,000 goal.

“I am impressed with the support, but I am also not (surprised)," Fusaro said. "The guinea pig community is very large, especially over social media. There is a terrible lack of rescues for guinea pigs, so whenever one opens up, we all get very excited and try to support each other as much as possible.”

Fusaro said she has reached out to Live and Let Live Farm Rescue, in Chichester, which she said took in the 16 surviving guinea pigs, to see if her own group could help. She said she is also planning to auction two donated paintings of guinea pigs.

The guinea pig rescue community is one of many in the Hampton area hosting fundraisers for those affected by the fire.

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