Laguna Beach, a seaside town with California's highest median home price, has avoided wildfires that have consumed 200,000 acres in the state this year. Fire Department Battalion Chief Kris Head's best defense? Goats.

The town pays $200,000 a year to goat ranchers for the services of 750 animals that form a fire break around the city by munching brush, Head said. Demand for fire goats rose after record rains this year caused an explosion of weeds, increasing the threat, said Dan Barnes, owner of the EZ Bar goat ranch.

"We've been very busy," said Barnes, 54, whose ranch in Teha-chapi is about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. "We've had to split up our goats to work in different areas at the same time. Usually we just do one area at a time."

A 24,000-acre blaze north of Los Angeles this month, the first big fire of the season, is a sign that firefighters and goat herders are likely to be in demand. Two days of rain this week won't douse the danger of wildfires, said Andrew Olvera, an inspector at the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Barnes, whose goats have also worked for the Los Angeles County Fire Department and homeowners associations in Malibu, said his herds are currently working five jobs. Goats are less expensive than human work crews and can clear more rugged terrain, said Carolyn Van Horn, 72, Malibu's former mayor.

"There is still all the brush and the Santa Ana winds just started," Olvera said, referring to dry winds that fan blazes. "This fire season isn't over by any means."

The $500 to $1,000 per acre charged by goat herders is less expensive than hand crews, said Doug Nickles, fire prevention coordinator in Glendale, eight miles north of Los Angeles.

"With the goats, we needed a minimal number of entry points and with goats there's no debris," Nickles said. "They eat it, so you don't have to get rid of it. You move them in and you move them out and you're done."

Demand for goats from companies like Goats-R-Us in Orinda, Calif., and Goosedog Ranch in Coalinga is rising as word-of-mouth spreads, said Mike Canaday, 59, Goosedog's owner. Goats from his ranch, north of Bakersfield in California's Central Valley, are clearing brush for the California Department of Transportation property in San Leandro, he said.

"There's definitely been some pickup this year," Canaday said. "People are starting to see the goats more, like around freeways, and start thinking about it for themselves."

The novelty of watching goats munch brush in suburban neighborhoods draws audiences, said Linda Conroy, special projects director for her homeowners association in Folsom. The group hired goats to clear six acres.

"Sunday morning all the neighbors came out with their lawn chairs and watched," Conroy said. "It was an event for this town."

The city of Glendale in 2003 hired goats to clear a milewide swath. The animals became local celebrities.

"Families would come out and pet the goats," Nickles said. "It was almost like having a petting zoo in your backyard. It was a really positive experience."

In Laguna Beach, where the median home price in August was $1.6 million according to the California Association of Realtors, land cleared by goats has saved neighborhoods threatened by flames.

In 1993, no homes were lost where the goats had worked, said Head, of the city's fire department. The fire consumed structures in an adjacent area that hadn't been cleared, he said.

Testimonials like that may draw business but they don't make the life of a goat rancher easier, said Terri Oyarzun, who with her husband runs 5,000 goats, 39 herding dogs and employs about 20 workers at Goats-R-Us.

Besides working in rough terrain, goat herders sometimes have to protect their animals from predators, including humans, she said.

People have tried to rustle goats to make a meal, Oyarzun said. "We make it very clear to those communities that we are not meals on wheels."

The job hasn't produced enough money for retirement savings and the Oyarzuns will rely on their children for support when they pass the ranch down.

"The goats afford us the lifestyle of not having to work for anybody else and to be with our animals all day," she said. "But we are not making any money from this."