A house fire on the south side of Youngstown turned into anything but routine for city firefighters on Thursday.

Youngstown Battalion Chief Ron Russo tells 21 News it was quite a tense moment when they arrived on scene a little after noon at the 700 block of Cohasset drive.

Russo says the fire was heavily involved. Homeowner Dave Workman told firefighters 11 dogs and a hybrid wolf were in the house.

The dogs were able to get out through a doggy door in the room where the fire started.

Officials say it started from a space heater that shorted the electrical system.

Damages to the house are estimated at about $10,000.

Animal Charities and the Mahoning County Cog Warden were called to contain the dogs..

Nine dogs were transported to Canfield Kennels for safe keeping. the owner was keeping 3 of them. All of the dogs were described as being well fed, healthy and in very good condition.

It took a couple of hours and some extra manpower to remove the wolf because firefighters and humane agents didn't want to take any chances.

“That was their concern is that they were gonna get bit. There was a lot of excitement, a lot of smoke, a lot of fire and the dogs were excited of course you know, so luckily he stayed to the back corner until we were able to get more people here, secure him and now remove him and take him to the Canfield Kennels,” said Deputy Dog Warden Dave Nelson.

The homeowner is expected to pick up all the dogs on Friday.

He faces citations from the dog warden for failure to register the dogs, which are minor misdemeanors..

He could face citations from Mahoning County Zoning because the law says you can only have three dogs within city limits.