A homeless man from Atlanta, Georgia is being praised as a hero this week after he put his own life in danger to rescue over a dozen animals from a shelter that had caught on fire.

Six dogs and ten cats were trapped in the W-Underdogs shelter when its kitchen caught on fire. When 53 year-old Keith Walker, who shelters his pit bull Bravo at the shelter every night, realized this, he knew he had to do something. He had come to the shelter to pick up his dog when he saw that it was on fire, and he immediately took action.

"I was nervous as hell, I'm not going to lie. I was really scared to go in there with all that smoke. But God put me there to save those animals," Walker recalled to CNN. "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."

Gracie Hamlin, the founder of W-Underdogs, praised Walker as her "guardian angel."

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"Even the firefighters didn't want to handle the dogs," Hamlin said. "They called animal control, but Keith was already in the building pulling out the cats and dogs until they were all safe."

"I can't thank him enough for saving my animals," she added. "I'm still in disbelief, because I've been around a fire and I know how fast they flare up. He is my hero."

Walker has been homeless ever since he was 13, and while many social media users have tried to donate to him in the wake of his heroic deed, he's not accepting their offers.

"We are in contact with Keith and working to assess his needs and wants," the shelter wrote in a Facebook post. "He is not currently accepting offers of help but we will continue to stay in touch with him and share as much as he will allow."

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Thankfully, W-Underdogs was just a week away from moving locations to a new facility in Atlanta, where the rescued animals have since been placed. God bless Walker for stepping up to save the lives of these creatures!

This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.

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