Goats helped save the Reagan Library from the Easy Fire
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 is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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