It was the middle of the night, and Beth Milliken could see the Glass Fire burning in the distance. From 1 a.m. until daybreak, the vintner hurriedly bolstered her St. Helena property, Spottswoode Winery: soaking the outside decks with water, cleaning gutters of flammable debris.
“I kept thinking, when the sun comes up, we’ll get support. All we gotta do is make it until the sun comes up,” Milliken said, recounting that anxious night late last September.
But the sun rose, and no firefighting crew arrived. No aid ever did come to Spottswoode.
Ultimately, the winery was luckier than many of its neighbors; others, like Newton Vineyards just half a mile away, were decimated by flames. The experience was a harsh awakening for Milliken. In a moment of crisis, the Cal Fire crews charged with battling blazes in St. Helena have too many other places, people and properties to worry about, she said. A small vineyard like hers will never be a priority.
“I realized at that moment we are really on our own,” she said.
That sentiment is now coursing powerfully through the Napa Valley community, which after major losses in 2020’s Glass and LNU fires is girding for the likelihood of wildfire every year. Many residents and businesses are frustrated with existing firefighting resources and are speaking up about the need to mount their own fire defenses.
Milliken has made a number of new investments to protect Spottswoode, such as installing special vents on buildings that will seal up to ward off embers. Wineries like Silver Oak and Castello di Amorosa, meanwhile, are giving their staffs firefighting training. The county’s leading wine-industry groups have asked the county to consider severing its contract with Cal Fire and form its own fire department instead.
And rather than rely solely on Cal Fire helicopters, which must be shared throughout the state, some county residents want to purchase aircraft to fight fires only in Napa, cost be damned. One winemaker offered to arrange for two firefighting airplanes for Napa County for the upcoming season; another resident has proposed bringing in Black Hawk helicopters at his own expense, a cost of $2 million.
But county residents taking matters into their own hands is proving difficult. The county Board of Supervisors has rejected one of the aircraft offers and hasn’t made a decision on the other. That has enraged some locals, who say that the county is not acting urgently in the face of crisis. Last year, the Glass Fire damaged or destroyed more than 30 wine properties, compounding the losses vintners suffered in 2017.
Counties across California face similar concerns. But Napa presents a unique set of risks and advantages when it comes to wildfire. It’s a rural place blanketed by flammable wildland. Yet it’s also dotted with vineyards, which have often proven to act as firebreaks. Finally, it’s an agricultural community with an unusual amount of wealth, where a luxury property might be listed for sale at $22 million.
That kind of affluence may afford it certain privileges in considering its wildfire defenses. It may also not be enough.
Randy Dunn of Dunn Vineyards drives past charred trees on the property he partially owns inside the Wildlake Preserve on Howell Mountain in Angwin. Fire last year burned through about 80% of the preserve, which is near Dunn’s property.
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle
Many Napa vintners battled last year’s wildfires with their own rogue firefighting efforts. During August’s LNU Lightning Complex fires, at least three separate groups of winemakers used bulldozers to create their own firebreaks.
Two months later, during the Glass Fire, El Molino Winery owner Jon Berlin rode a stunt motorcycle around Spring Mountain to monitor the spread of the blaze, cutting firebreaks with chain saws and extinguishing spot fires with a backpack sprayer. (Cal Fire advises against individual firefighting efforts and never encourages anyone to remain at their property when there is an evacuation order.)
This year, many vintners have taken fire preparation even further. Wineries including Castello di Amorosa (which lost a building in the Glass Fire) and Silver Oak (whose Oakville winery burned in 2006) are turning their own employees into a first line of defense. In March, 22 Silver Oak staffers, including owner David Duncan, took a 40-hour basic firefighting course, which included practicing putting out fires. Those staffers are now trained to use the tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of new equipment Duncan has purchased, including a 2,000-gallon water truck.
“Our intent is not to go charging up in the mountains to fight forest fires,” said Duncan. “Nobody needs to be a hero. But in the event we have an incident, I think we’re really prepared.”
Even some who have invested in wildfire preparations for years are taking new steps. Randy Dunn, owner of Dunn Vineyards, bought his first fire truck — a vintage model from 1946 — back in the early 1980s, just in case he ever needed to extinguish a blaze at his remote vineyard high on Howell Mountain. But in the last year, he’s spent $30,000 paying crews to cut back vegetation, bought a bulldozer to create defensible space, installed tanks that can hold more than 25,000 gallons of water and connected them to pumps. He also bought a second fire engine last year, for $8,000. “I’ve got my eye on a third,” he said.
Vintners aren’t the only ones with growing concern about fire protection in Napa County. A local nonprofit, the Napa Firewise Foundation, has secured funding from the county for its Community Wildfire Protection Plan, which will develop a better emergency alert system, identify priority locations for reducing flammable vegetation and advise on updates for building codes, among other measures. The county has allocated $6 million for that, said Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza.
But $6 million may not be enough. To fund the plan over the next several years will require an additional $10 million, said Rex Stults, vice president of industry relations for the Napa Valley Vintners trade association.
Randy Dunn walks through the vines of his winery Dunn Vineyards on Howell Mountain. Dunn believes the conversation needs to start focusing on what individuals can do when a wildfire actually starts rather than focusing solely on preventive measures.
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle
The vintners group has formed task forces to study various aspects of the county’s wildfire preparedness. “There is a lot of rethinking going on right now about how we respond, where our resources come from, who pays for them, what the priorities are of the county or the state,” said Dawnine Dyer, owner of Meteor Vineyard on Diamond Mountain and an active task force member.
Dyer sees great potential in repurposing winery and vineyard equipment as firefighting tools. “We have water, heavy equipment, pumps — if we can somehow train ourselves to be part of the response, then we won’t have to find ourselves in those situations where we’re shut out and feeling helpless,” she said.
Vintner Dunn agrees. He believes the conversation needs to start focusing on what individuals can do when a wildfire actually starts, rather than focusing solely on preventive measures. He saw this situation firsthand last year, when flames burned through about 80% of the Wildlake Preserve, a nature conservation area near his property.
“I believe in vegetation management,” he said. “In the meantime, the fire is going to burn us and we won’t have any protection.”
A charred box that once held Randy Dunn’s wildlife camera is seen on the fence of the property he partially owns inside the Wildlake Preserve on Howell Mountain in Angwin. Fire last year burned through about 80% of the preserve.
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle
In the face of limited public resources, Napa has something that most rural counties don’t: wealthy and well-connected residents who can afford to pay for firefighting aircraft.
Earlier this year, Dunn, who is also a pilot and keeps a Turbo Commander 690A plane at the private airport in Angwin, offered to have two Fire Boss aircraft stationed locally, which could be used to fight fires from the air in Napa County.
Keeping two Fire Boss planes in Napa for 120 days would cost about $1.5 million, Dunn estimated, a sum he thought he could easily raise from his peers. But he needed county approval — and in April, county supervisors declined the offer.
Dunn’s intention was noble, said Pedroza, but the Fire Boss planes weren’t the right vehicles for the job. “When you talk to our experts, in their professional opinion, helicopters were a more appropriate resource for Napa County, given our topography,” Pedroza said.
Cal Fire did get a firefighting helicopter stationed at the Napa Airport in June, but it will be used throughout the state, wherever there’s a need. For some Napa residents, that’s not good enough. “We want some resources dedicated just to Napa County,” said Milliken.
One newcomer to Napa Valley is observing the situation with interest. Michael Rogerson, the CEO of an aircraft company in Southern California, bought a home in Oakville in early 2021. He learned that he would not be able to purchase a strong wildfire insurance policy for his property — a common predicament among Napa property owners — and began getting worried about wildfire danger.
When he saw that Dunn was experiencing difficulty in getting the county to approve the Fire Boss planes, Rogerson figured he might have a better shot providing Black Hawk helicopters, crafts his company has owned since 2016 and that are “very similar” to what Cal Fire uses, he said. And he is willing to cover the estimated $2 million cost to do it.
A fire burns near Livermore Ranch during the Glass Fire in Napa County.
Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle 2020
But even that much money may not be able to get the job done. The county still hasn’t given Rogerson the go-ahead.
There’s still a chance the county will take him up on the offer, Pedroza said. “We’re hopeful that (in August) we will have secured a helicopter,” the supervisor said, adding, “We’re hopeful that (Rogerson’s) helicopters can be considered.”
Regardless, Rogerson said he plans to fly his Black Hawks from Tennessee, where they’re currently located, to the Napa County Airport. He said he will make sure they meet all Cal Fire specifications. Essentially, he wants to make it as hard as possible for the county to say no.
“I want to prove to them that my offer is real,” Rogerson said. “And if they want to continue to ignore it, I hope that they don’t end up having a reason to be sorry.”
Randy Dunn demonstrates the use of a 1946 fire truck he bought to protect his property from wildfires at Dunn Vineyards on Howell Mountain. Dunn says the conversation needs to start focusing on what individuals can do when a wildfire actually starts rather than focusing solely on preventive measures.
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle
Not every county in California, of course, has residents with a spare $2 million to fund firefighting helicopters. The debate in Napa raises questions about the responsibilities of individuals versus those of local governments in combating chronic wildfires. What sort of precedent might it set for other communities in California without the money, connections or clout to secure such high-stakes resources? If Napa gets its helicopters, would it be ethical to withhold them from other counties if a fire is burning beyond the county line?
“It’s a big problem, and it doesn’t have a simple solution,” said Rogerson. Certainly, he added, “using our two helicopters is not going to solve the whole problem.”
There are precedents for county-funded aerial firefighting in California. San Diego County, for example, has three of its own aircraft. But it’s an enormous investment: The county purchased its last helicopter, in 2019, for about $20 million.
Those are questions for the long term. In the meantime, all that vintners like Dunn and Milliken are thinking about is how they’re going to get through the next few months. Peak fire season is coming up, and they and their peers have millions of dollars’ worth of property at stake; the livelihoods of thousands of people also hang in the balance.
The idea that property owners should leave all firefighting efforts to Cal Fire is beginning to sound impractical to many. “I don’t know who on this planet would really be willing to walk away from their property and say, ‘If it burns, it burns,’” Milliken said. “I don’t see that as being realistic.”
What is realistic, and horrifically so, is the likelihood of wildfire coming to Napa Valley again, even to parts of the valley that were recently scorched. Wildlake Preserve, near Dunn Vineyards, is full of dry brush again, less than a year after it burned.
“There’s a lot of standing fuel,” Dunn said. “I hate to say it, but a fire could get going in here again.”
Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicle’s wine critic. Email: [email protected]
Twitter:
@Esther_mobley
