It’s not what you’d expect from one of the rainiest countries in Europe. In the summer of 2021, a flowering plant called gorse caused wildfires that burned for six weeks in an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland named Howth, before firefighters could get them under control. It was a bad summer for wildfires on the peninsula, but damaging fires are major challenges for people and wildlife there almost every year.
The local municipality has tried fire breaks and public awareness campaigns about the dangers of campfires and littering, but with little success. Now, however, they’ve got an unlikely set of helpers on the case: a herd of goats they hope will make this heathland less vulnerable to fire by munching their way through the dense thickets of highly flammable gorse and bracken that cover it.
