NORTHEAST COBB - Deborah Wood, 55, lost the home she's owned for more than a decade on Monday to a fire. But she's most concerned about the 16 or so mutts she had taken into her home because no one else wanted them.

"Those dogs are more important to me than anything," Wood said through tears. "Whatever it takes to keep them safe, I will do it."

Two of the dogs died in the fire, which Cobb Fire officials said was started by a space heater. Wood was home at the time and got the animals out of the house.

The rest are being boarded at Etowah Veterinary Hospital on Canton Road.

In an e-mail sent early Tuesday, Wood wrote: "By profession I am a paralegal, and by passion I have a dog rescue company. ... I lost everything. I need to find temp foster homes now - today."

Wood would like to rent a home with a fenced yard, so she can keep the dogs, many of whom were rescued from high-kill shelters, she said. Some were hunting dogs who had grown too old hunt, she said.

"They lived as family pets. They had free run of the house and yard," she said.

Jonathan Dayan, an Atlanta lawyer who previously employed Wood, said she truly cares about animals.

"I understood she had a pet adoption service where she found homes for injured, abused, lost or abandoned dogs," Dayan said via e-mail. "I know she did all she could to care for them and find good homes for them. I've met few people as generous as she."

To contact Wood, e-mail deb@thedognextdoor.com.