California’s wine country has become fire country, leaving devastation and fear
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
MARIA L. LA GANGA reports for the Los Angeles Times
HEALDSBURG, Calif. — The things that set California apart, for better or worse, were all there last Sunday afternoon: terrifying flames, wine country glamour and a rescue straight out of Hollywood. Captured via smartphone. Of course.
As John Viszlay and Dominic Foppoli watched, horrified, the Kincade fire crested the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains and headed straight for their adjoining vineyards. Winds gusted. Smoke swirled. At any moment, they realized, everything they’d worked for would be lost.
“We came within a couple hundred yards of the fire hitting and destroying our winery,” said Foppoli, who is also the mayor of nearby Windsor. It would have been a disaster, “if it wasn’t for a perfectly timed Hollywood scene, where the skies parted and a 747 supertanker … shows up out of the sky and blasts the fire.”
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
A bright pink plume of skillfully placed fire retardant saved Christopher Creek Winery, which was founded in 1972 and acquired by Foppoli’s family 40 years later. It spared Viszlay Vineyards, which has been operated by its eponymous owner and his son for the past decade. Beyond that, good news is in short supply.
Evacuation orders have lifted in Healdsburg, Windsor and most other swaths of Sonoma County. Vineyard owners and winemakers have been returning to their operations for the first time since the vast Kincade fire ignited, to assess the fire’s impact. Some tasting rooms are reopening.
For the most part, vines and wineries survived the flames, and, as of Saturday night, the blaze was 74% contained. But questions loom over how much of the 2019 vintage survived a week of intense heat, smoke and evacuation-caused neglect. How big an economic hit the region’s small, family-owned operations will take.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
And whether the wine country’s carefully cultivated image can survive year after year of increasingly destructive fires, which are reshaping how the world views this region of rolling hills, orderly beauty, popping corks and clinking glasses.
“We don’t want this to be our new normal,” said Karissa Kruse, president of Sonoma County Winegrowers. “We love people visiting Sonoma County and our fellow wine regions and having a great experience. We don’t want people to worry about coming here. We have some work to do.”
When Sonoma County isn’t reeling from disaster, it is among California’s most scenic and verdant regions. Grapevines march in graceful rows — bright green in spring, lush with fruit in summer, deep red and gold in the autumn chill. The Russian River snakes through the Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley grape-growing regions to the ocean. There are stately redwoods, 50 miles of rugged Pacific coastline, more than 425 wineries. It is Napa’s relaxed and welcoming sister.
Trump rips California governor as wildfires ravage the state
KYLE BALLUCK – reports for The Hill 11/03/19 09:33 AM EST
President Trump on Sunday ripped Governor California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) as wildfires ravage the Golden State, saying the Democrat has done a “terrible job of forest management” and threatening to withhold federal financial aid.
“I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers,” Trump said in a tweet.
“Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states,” he added.
Trump also said that teams are working well to put out the “massive, and many” fires.
“Great firefighters! Also, open up the ridiculously closed water lanes coming down from the North. Don’t pour it out into the Pacific Ocean. Should be done immediately. California desperately needs water, and you can have it now!” he tweeted.
The tweets come as several wildfires burn in Northern and Southern California.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Kincade fire north of San Francisco is the largest active blaze. It has burned more than 77,000 acres since it began last month and is 74 percent contained.
California wildfires will cost tens of billions
By John Roach, Accuweather.com
The beginning of November confirms what Cal Fire Deputy Director Mike Mohler told AccuWeather at the start of the state’s fire season. “We don’t really have a fire season anymore; it’s really a fire year,” Mohler said.
Numerous fires blazed in parts of Northern and Southern California heading into the weekend. Wildfires have ravaged more than 260,000 acres in the state as of Nov. 1, which is much less than the 1.8 million acres burned last year and the 1.3 million burned in 2017. AccuWeather forecasters believe that nearly half a million acres in California could be scorched in total in 2019.
AccuWeather now estimates the total damage and economic loss caused by the California wildfires in 2019 will be $80 billion, according to AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers, based on an analysis incorporating independent methods to evaluate all direct and indirect impacts of the fires based on a variety of sources.
“This estimate, which includes both insured and uninsured losses and the impact on the U.S. economy, is far less than our estimate for the 2018 wildfire season,” Myers said. “Power outages are more of a factor this year. That will result in a significant cost per customer during the duration of the blackouts throughout the state.”
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