Goats helped save the Reagan Library from the Easy Fire

Flames near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library sign.
(Image credit: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, is safe, thanks to the hard work of firefighters and goats.

The Easy Fire broke out in Simi Valley on Wednesday morning, with the flames coming within a few feet of the library's pavilion that holds an old Air Force One. While the building was threatened, it didn't sustain any damage, due to the hundreds of goats brought up every May by the Ventura County Fire Department to eat vegetation in the area. "The firefighters on the property said that the fire break really helped them because as the fire was coming up that one hill, all the brush has been cleared, basically," library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said.

The library sits on 400 acres, and holds millions of documents and photographs. While the exhibits were in danger, the library said Reagan's presidential papers were always safe, as they are stored in an underground vault, USA Today reports. The Easy Fire has burned more than 1,300 acres and is threatening 6,500 homes, with firefighters attacking the blaze on the ground and from the air.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.