Homeless man rescued 25 dogs from burning recycling facility in Peru

A homeless man is being hailed as a hero after he scaled up a three-story building that was engulfed in flames and rescued 25 dogs trapped on the roof.

The fire initially started at a recycling plant in the Lima town of Gamarra and spread to the residential building on Friday.

Colombian national Sebastián Arias told Latina Televisión he was walking back to his living space near a bridge and thinking about his wife, who recently tried to commit suicide after she discovered she was pregnant, when he saw the building was on fire and spotted the animals.

A video of the daring rescue shows the young man sliding himself across a third-floor apartment’s balcony railing and then smashing a window as residents cheered him on.

Sebastián Arias stands on the ledge of a three-story building where he saved 25 dogs from burning to death as a fire from a recycling plant was spreading over in Limas, Peru, on Friday

Sebastián Arias, of Medellín, Colombia, is being hailed as a hero after he risked his life by climbing up a three-story building to rescued 25 dogs in Peru

Arias subsequently climbed on the window ledge and made to the roof’s facade as the last of the 25 dogs was crawling away from the heavy smoke.

He then reached the corner of the building, where the pooch was standing on top of a column and grabbed it before he tossed it to a crowd on the sidewalk.

One of the eight fire department units that battled the blaze set up a ladder that reached the second floor’s balcony, but Arias opted to jump to the ground instead.

A proud owner of three dogs, the Colombian man decided to risk his life despite his fear of heights and evacuated the dogs because he would not have liked to have seen one of his pets burned to death.

‘The adrenaline got me going,’ Arias told the network. 

Sebastián Arias rescued the last of the 25 dogs who were trapped on the roof of a building next to a recycling facility in Peru  

Sebastián Arias flexes for residents in Lima, Peru, after he rescued 25 dogs from burning to death on the roof of a three-story building next to the recycling plant that was on fire 

Sebastián Arias has been living in the streets of the Peruvian capital, Lima, since leaving his family home in Medellín, Colombia

The last dog, Arias said, had some burns to his body and bit the rescuer’s left hand when he reached out for him.

‘The last dog scared me because the wall was coming down on me,’ he said.  ‘So what I then did was aggressively grabbed him by the neck and grabbed the mouth and tossed him.’

Arias has not seen his family in months after abandoning his home in Medellín, Colombia, and once thought about crossing over to Chile. 

But he now wants to remain in Peru and is hoping that someone with a kind heart will offer him employment.

‘I would like to get off the streets,’ he said. ‘I can do any job and what I don’t know I learn quickly.’

At least two of the dogs have found new homes – one of them will be living with the town’s mayor.