Wine Country Wildfire Destruction


More than 170,000 acres of burnt land in the iconic Northern California region have left an ashen landscape of commercial and residential structures. (Todd Johnson | San Francisco Business Times)

By Katie Burke – Food/Hospitality/Retail Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
October 11, 2017

The first thing you notice is the smell. Then it’s the silence.

With at least 17 fires burning more than 115,000 acres of Wine Country land, dozens of restaurants, wineries and businesses along with hundreds of homes have been destroyed and left to smolder in their wake. The fires have resulted in at least 15 deaths so far, a toll expected to rise further with more than 150 people still reported missing.

Cal Fire said in an update earlier today that more than 2,000 structures in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino Counties have been destroyed. Also today, the White House approved an extensive disaster declaration for California. President Donald Trump approved Federal Emergency Management Agency funding for the fire-ravaged area this afternoon, and state and local governments can begin to apply for assistance starting immediately.

Driving through Santa Rosa, Yountville, Calistoga, Napa and circling back to Vallejo, the damage is both extensive and entirely random. Street upon street of shops, retail centers, malls and gas stations have been deserted, pockmarked by neighborhoods of burnt-out or damaged structures. Evacuation orders remain in place, leaving no cars in most driveways and empty recycling bins in the street.

A lengthening roster of wineries in the area have been damaged or destroyed by the fires: Stagg’s Leap, William Hill and White Rock Vineyards in Napa, Chateau St. Jean, Paradise Ridge, Mayo Family Wineries and Nicholson Ranch in Sonoma, and Oster Wine Cellars in Mendocino, have all been affected. Calls to the properties were not returned.

Vaugh Medeiros told us that he evacuated his Santa Rosa home across from Schaefer Elementary School in the early hours of Monday morning and came back today to survey what was left. His house survived.

The rest of the neighborhood was mostly flattened — a landscape of ash, doorsteps to nothing and smoldering piles of car parts, bicycles and lawn toys.

“There were always kids playing in the streets and making noise up and down the block, but now there’s just nothing,” Medeiros said. “By some stroke of chance, this house made it, and it’s probably because the neighbor was watering everything down once the fire got close.”

The Nectar Restaurant and Lounge at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel in Santa Rosa was destroyed when the Tubbs Fire ripped through the town.

Other areas weren’t as lucky. The Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel in Santa Rosa at 3555 Round Barn Blvd. has been completely destroyed, with roads at the bottom of the hill blocked off to anxious residents waiting to see the status of their apartment complexes nearby.

Traci, a Santa Rosa resident who declined to provide her last name after crossing a police barricade, said she evacuated right after midnight on Sunday. She left behind her cat, her medicine and all of her belongings in the chaotic rush to flee. Her apartment unit off Fountaingrove Parkway was stable, but everything immediately across from her has been destroyed.

As business owners and residents clamor to get more information, police officers, sheriffs, firefighters and volunteers on the outskirts of the heavily damaged area have been working with little to no new information.

“There is just nothing to say,” a police officer parked near the first of a string of barricades blocking the roads leading to the Silverado Resort, which was evacuated late Sunday evening. Guests visiting for last weekend’s PGA tour and staff were forced to flee, and condominiums, vineyards and other structures in the area have been flattened into the now-black hills.

A few of the Wine Country’s iconic landmarks are still standing, however, including Yountville’s French Laundry and Bouchon.

In an Instagram post, Chef Thomas Keller said the two restaurants were safe, but left with limited resources as the fires continue to create power outages and curtail cellular service.

“Our restaurants in Yountville have limited resources, yet are here to support and provide sustenance and comfort to those in the area whether visitors or locals,” he wrote of Bouchon Bistro opening later this morning. Ad Hoc and French Laundry are closed this evening, but will be open tomorrow.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *