Kids, get in the car: Woman drives her 85 goats away from dairy farm threatened by wildfire

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    MOLALLA, OR (KPTV) — A local cheese maker is sharing how she rescued her 85 goats from the Riverside Fire. The goats are safe in Forest Grove now, but the trek to get them there wasn’t easy.

Carine Goldin told FOX 12 when Molalla went into a Level 3 “GO NOW” evacuation order, she knew she had to move fast to get her goats out of the fire’s path and on the road to safety, which required an unconventional method… “but it worked,” she said.

The sky was scary over Goldin Artisan Goat Cheese a week ago, a red glow over what quickly became a red, Level 3 “GO NOW” zone.

Goldin’s creamery has been in Molalla for 12 years, and she’s never experienced anything like the wildfires.

She knew right away she needed to get her 85 goats to safety.

So, with little time to spare, Goldin packed her goats into a trailer and into a Subaru, making multiple trips to Canby to drop them off at a farm there.

“We put all the little ones and there were seven in the Subaru. They actually lined up nicely on one end,” Goldin said.

But, the moment of rest was short lived, as Canby’s evacuation order was raised – so she had to get the goats to safety once again.

This time, Goldin said Clackamas County helped. In the next trip, the goats were in a couple trailers on their trip to Forest Grove.

Goldin is staying in Canby currently. She said her home is still standing — but she’s waiting to go back.

“It’s all very scary and the goats are under tremendous stress right now. And we just kind of want to give them rest before we move them back.”

The cheese back in Molalla at the farm is also fine, Goldin said.

The cheese is sealed in the aging room, ready to ship out once it’s safe to go home.

When there’s no chance of the fire getting close to the dairy farm, Goldin said she’ll take the goats on one more trip: back home.

Molalla is currently under a Level 2 “BE SET” evacuation order.

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