HOMELESS MAN WENT INTO BURNING SHELTER TO SAVE 16 ANIMALS

Keith Walker, a 53-year-old homeless man, went into a burning W-Underdogs animal shelter in Atlanta on December 18, 2020, and brought out all six dogs and ten cats inside. He had been on his way to pick up his pit bull, Bravo, who slept at the shelter with founder Gracie Hamlin’s permission, when he spotted the flames.

The rescue was covered by CNN and People, and it is the kind of story that holds up years later.

The fire started in the shelter’s kitchen. Walker had planned a simple walk with his dog, and instead he was staring at a building full of smoke and animals that could not get themselves out.

He did not pretend it was easy. “I was nervous as hell, I’m not going to lie,” Walker told CNN. “I was really scared to go in there with all that smoke. But God put me there to save those animals.”

Why he went back in for the dogs

Walker said Bravo was a big part of his reasoning. “If you love a dog, you can love anyone in the world. My dog is my best friend, and I wouldn’t be here without him, so I knew I had to save all those other dogs,” he told CNN, as quoted by People.

Firefighters were on the scene, but Hamlin said the animals were a problem for them. “Even the firefighters were hesitant to manage the dogs,” she told CNN. “They contacted animal control, but Keith was already inside, rescuing the cats and dogs until they were all out of danger.”

CNN reported that Walker had experienced homelessness since he was 13, and that Hamlin already knew him before the fire. She did not hold back when she described what he had done. “He is my guardian angel,” she said.

The fire and the move

The building was not destroyed, but the fire left it unlivable. KIRO 7 reported that investigators said an electrical fire in the kitchen caused the blaze. People reported that W-Underdogs said in a Facebook post dated December 19, 2020, that the fire department had deemed it an electrical fire.

The timing was lucky in one way. W-Underdogs had already been getting ready to move to a new facility in Atlanta, so the animals went there after the fire.

Money followed the attention. According to People, a GoFundMe campaign set up for Walker had raised more than $27,000 by the time of its report. KIRO 7 also reported that a crowdfunding account was set up to help the shelter recover.

As for the animals, W-Underdogs wrote that they were settled in. “They are all happy, warm, safe, and comfortable in their new temporary home.”