Fires have been devastating various parts of California and brave crews of firefighters have been working around the clock to tame the infernos. One even threatened to consume the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
RedState reporter Jennifer Van Lar was on the scene. You can see just how large the fire had become in the footage she captured.
(READ: California Fires Nearing Historic Reagan Library, Evacuations In Process)
Firefighters were worried as the fire had never come so close to the 1,300-acre complex, and flames began licking up the hills toward it. The complex might very well have been lost…if it wasn’t for an army of hungry goats.
You read that correctly. According to CNN, around 500 goats ate an entire barrier that halted the blaze, effectively stopping the fire from consuming the presidential library:
A herd of ravenous goats played a role in saving the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library after a fresh wildfire erupted Wednesday near Simi Valley in Southern California, forcing officials to order evacuations of nearby homes.
In addition the firefighters and aircraft crews that responded Wednesday, a hungry herd of as many as 500 goats had helped create a firebreak months ago in the brush that surrounds the hilltop complex, officials said. The goats last spring ate up vegetation that could have fueled the fire.
“One of the firefighters mentioned that they do believe the goats’ fire line helped them fight this fire,” library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said. “They just proved today how useful they really are.”
According to The Guardian, the goats came from a company specifically created to help combat forest fires by allowing the four-legged furry consumers to consume the brush that would otherwise be kindling for wildfires. They even come with funny names:
“We actually worked with the Ventura county fire department in May and they bring out hundreds of goats to our property,” Melissa Giller, a spokeswoman for the library, told ABC. “The goats eat all of the brush around the entire property, creating a fire perimeter.”
The goats were sourced from a firm called 805 Goats, which oversees an army of horned contractors, including Vincent van Goat, Selena Goatmez, Goatzart and, more prosaically, Oreo. The company charges fire-threatened clients about $1,000 per acre of goat-cleared land. It plans to expand its herd to cope with a growing wildfire threat in California, fueled by the climate crisis.
This makes the second story this month of how our furry friends are helping to make America a safer place.
(h/t: Daily Wire)
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