#Oregon town hoping goats can help in fight against wildfires

An Oregon town has unleashed a special team of more than 200 goats to help reduce the risk of fires as a series of catastrophic infernos have broken out across the state.

Forest Grove, which is a town 25 miles east of Portland, sent the herd out to graze on vegetation that can accelerate the devastating fires, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

The livestock belongs to Washington state company Healing Hooves, which takes them across the Northwest to regions that are prone to wildfires.

“I get a lot of requests from people who want to do their backyards,” shepherd Craig Madsen told the outlet.

“And I say: ‘I don’t do those, because I can’t put 230 goats in your backyard.’ But there are people who’ll have a dozen or so goats. They’ll come out and do those projects.”

Madsen said he drives the herd from one job to the next for sessions that cost about $800 a day.

The fire-preventing goats are corralled by a movable, electric fence, which follows them as they clear the vegetation, he said.

For the next few days, the livestock will be working on a 14-acre grove that may one day become a city park.

“It’s something to see,” resident Leslie Lundquist, who watched the herd jump out of their trailer, told the outlet.

“Away they go! And they’re all different sizes and colors. Fun to watch.”