KTLA

Hundreds of goats work to prevent wildfires in Southern California

Vivian Chow and Shelby Nelson

To mitigate the danger of wildfire season in Southern California, local officials have brought in a large team to lend a hand — hundreds of hungry, grass-loving goats.

For these hardworking goats, their entire workday is one long lunch break as they work to clear fire-prone brush.

“They’ll work through and eat all the grasses and light brush down to the ground level which obviously helps us with mitigating wildfires in the area,” explained Chris Nelson, Assistant Chief with the San Manuel Fire Department.

Little do the hungry goats know, they’re playing a much larger and more important role in wildfire prevention.

“We started this year with this herd at 150 and because we got them so early in kidding season, the herd doubled to 300,” Nelson said.

To mitigate the impending danger of wildfire season in Southern California, local officials have brought in a large team to clear fire-prone brush — hundreds of hungry, grass-loving goats. (KTLA)
To mitigate the impending danger of wildfire season in Southern California, local officials have brought in a large team to clear fire-prone brush — hundreds of hungry, grass-loving goats. (KTLA)
To mitigate the impending danger of wildfire season in Southern California, local officials have brought in a large team to clear fire-prone brush — hundreds of hungry, grass-loving goats. (KTLA)
To mitigate the impending danger of wildfire season in Southern California, local officials have brought in a large team to clear fire-prone brush — hundreds of hungry, grass-loving goats. (KTLA)
To mitigate the impending danger of wildfire season in Southern California, local officials have brought in a large team to clear fire-prone brush — hundreds of hungry, grass-loving goats. (KTLA)
To mitigate the impending danger of wildfire season in Southern California, local officials have brought in a large team to clear fire-prone brush — hundreds of hungry, grass-loving goats. (KTLA)
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The goats were deployed across the reservation and areas belonging to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in the Inland Empire.

One group of goats was gathered at the Foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, an area that has seen plenty of fires ignite over the years.

Due to the historic rainfall this past winter, brush areas have seen a lot of overgrowth, which means more potential fuel for wildfires. 

So far, officials are happy to facilitate the goats’ endless feasting in areas near Waterman Canyon all the way up to places near Lake Arrowhead and Crestline.

“They’re in what we would call a pen, it’s two to five acres and they’ll work in that area for a week or two and while they’re in there, the next pen will begin being created and when they’re done with this one, we’ll open one little hole in the fence, let them through,” Nelson said.

As Southern California approaches another heatwave next week, the top priority for fire officials remains working hard to mitigate any potential fire dangers.

Cal Fire is also urging residents in fire-prone areas to do what they can to minimize the risk of igniting a blaze. An excessive heat watch will be in effect starting Tuesday for most of the Inland Empire.

“Temps in the Inland Empire on each of those days will be near 100, explained Alex Tardy with the National Weather Service. “A few of those days will be over 100.”

Meanwhile, the goats will be feasting in the Inland Empire through September or October before fire officials arrive and trim down any brush areas the goats couldn’t reach.