How Goats Helped Save Reagan's Legacy

SIMI VALLEY, CA — The battle was won long before the flames licked the hillsides surrounding the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Wednesday. Though the library appeared doomed for a few touch-and-go hours, the fast-moving Easy Fire was ultimately stopped at the library’s doorstep. So who won it for the Gipper? The goats did.

Not to downplay the fierce defense mounted by firefighters and the relentless water drops from above, but it was the defensible space surrounding the building that left museum officials feeling confident even as the flames raced up the hillside.

For years, hungry goats have been eating every green thing in sight around the perimeter of the building, ensuring that when the flames finally reached the library, there would be little left to feed the blaze.

According to library spokeswoman Melissa Giller, the goats are part of a Ventura County Fire Department program that brings hundreds of goats to munch the brush every May.

"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," she told USA Today.

"It was darn smart for us to do that," John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, told the newspaper.

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Flames Surround Reagan Presidential Library

"It's a pretty tough situation here," Heubusch told KTLA5 as the fire threatened the library. "There's never been fires this close to the library. It's a place of a national treasure and the flames are licking right up against it."

The fire broke out early Wednesday morning. Driven by the most intense Santa Ana windstorm Southern California has seen in a decade, the blaze grew to more than 1,000 acres in just a couple hours. The flames raced up the hill toward the library, a 400-acre complex that houses millions of Reagan documents and artifacts, including his Air Force One jet.

Video from the scene showed a wall of flames advancing upon the library. Hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze, establishing breaks and dropping water from helicopters and super scooper planes. According to the Los Angeles Times, the water drops created a smokey rainbow over the library.

Library officials said the facility was built to provide protection from fire, and all of the sensitive documents and photographs are kept in a fireproof vault. The museum itself is also equipped with fire doors in case flames managed to penetrate the actual building.

Between the helicopter pilots who risked their lives to make low-flying drops, firefighters who raced to build a firebreak, the luck of shifting winds and those hungry, heroic goats, the treasure trove of presidential artifacts has been saved.