Cue ‘There Goes My Hero’ by the Foo Fighters. A US Navy veteran is forever indebted to his beloved 500-pound pet pig for saving his life when his home in New Jersey ignited into a blaze.
Thirty-year-old Gilbert Anaya, who lives in Union Township, says that his pet pig Hamilton allotted him some extra time to escape the house earlier this month by closing the door to the garage as the flames battered the other side of it on the night of April 11th.
“The fire department said [that] him closing the door bought me 15 to 20 minutes. If he didn’t shut the door, the fire and smoke would have spread faster,” shared Anaya with The Post on Thursday. Anaya is a combat medic that did tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Firefighters who responded to the scene were able to put the fire out, which ultimately resulted from a surge protector that short-circuited and lit Hamilton’s bedding on fire. The spark and flames awoke Hamilton, who then reacted by running inside and closing the door behind him, something Anaya had trained him how to do.
“It was basically licking the wood and support beams,” said Anaya of the fire. “I was literally sleeping against the wall that was on fire.”
When Anaya awoke, he first feared the worst for his beloved Hamilton. After rushing and kicking in the closed door, Anaya realized that the clever fella had managed to get outside safely, where he was calmly grazing in the yard.
With the home devastated from the fire, Anaya has been staying with a friend, where Hamilton has been living in a makeshift tent in the yard as the property-owner rebuilds what was damaged.
An online fundraiser has been set up by Anaya’s sister to aid him with the post-fire expenses.