MARISA ENDICOTT
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Fire crews made gains Friday in their battle against the Pickett Fire in Napa County, even as the blaze grew to more than 3,000 acres, making it the largest wildfire in the region this year.
The fire erupted Thursday afternoon on the northern outskirts of Calistoga and spread quickly through the steep and rugged terrain, prompting evacuation orders for dozens of rural residents and threatening several wineries and vineyards in the area.
MAP: Pickett Fire evacuations near Silverado Trail in Napa County
Still, as temperatures and winds eased Friday, fire officials telegraphed confidence.
“Although the fire was very aggressive yesterday,” Cal Fire Operations Chief Jeremy Pierce said during a Friday operational update, “today the fire is a much different fire. We do have aircraft and crews in place, and we’re hoping to keep it in check during the heat of the day.”
Evacuation orders, however, remained in place, he added.
That snapshot reflected more than 1,100 acres of growth since the blaze was last mapped Thursday night, Cal Fire said, and made it many times the size of the next largest incident this year within the six counties covered by Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit. That fire, the Lake Fire, burned 401 acres near Clearlake in early August.
“This is the biggest fire that we’ve had since 2020,” Napa County Deputy Fire Marshal Erick Hernandez said.
That year saw the Hennessey Fire and then the Glass Fire burn in much the same area. The Glass Fire, which burned for almost a month from late September through much of October, swept through 67,000 acres in Napa and Sonoma counties, destroying more than 1,500 structures.
The Pickett Fire made its way along the burn scars of those fires Thursday into Friday, moving east toward the unincorporated community of Pope Valley, in eastern Napa County.
Pope Valley resident Deanna Reister was packed and ready to evacuate Friday morning to her daughter’s house in Colusa County if necessary. She’s evacuated about 10 times in the past decade, she told The Press Democrat.
Cal Fire’s Pierce acknowledged that history during his Friday update and tried to reassure residents.
“I know that for these communities of Angwin, Deer Park and everybody around this area, that Glass Fire is an everlasting memory,” he said. “That being said these are not anywhere close to the same conditions as the Glass Fire.”
He called the Pickett Fire a “slope- and fuels-driven fire” without the same extreme weather and wind and spotting that propelled the Glass Fire. “We’re able to keep up with this fire,” he said. “We expect that to continue.”
The Glass Fire’s burn scar has broken up what would have been continuous fuel beds in some areas, according to Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit spokesperson Jason Clay.
Fire crews have been able to use some of the same access roads and fire lines that were already established as they build out more control lines. Lines recently reestablished by Napa Firewise have also been helpful, according to Cal Fire.
“We have the right people here who were here five years ago that are familiar with that road system,” said Hernandez, the deputy fire marshal. “We’re using that to our advantage.”
The fire initially broke out just before 3 p.m. Thursday just as a heat wave descended on the North Bay after an unusually cool summer. Temperatures hit triple digits in some places.
Sparked in the 2300 block of Pickett Road, just outside Calistoga city limits, according to Cal Fire, a large plume of smoke was quickly visible from miles away, including Santa Rosa. The cause of the fire is under investigation, with investigators on scene Thursday and again Friday.
That area is home to several wineries, including Poggi Wines, Eisele Vineyard, Venge Vineyards and Kenefick Ranch, and a scattering of rural properties.
Within the hour, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation orders for the areas closest to the fire, north of Silverado Trail, affecting about 70 people, Sheriff Oscar Ortiz said Thursday, and warnings went out to areas just to their east.
By Friday, Napa County officials expanded evacuation orders, including areas north and south of Aetna Springs on the northern edge of Pope Valley, east of Victoria Drive and Oat Hill Mine Trail and west of Summit Lake Drive. Evacuation warnings were extended past the Calistoga Ranch resort and then zones south of James Creek Road.
The wildfire has primarily moved east through sparsely populated territory. No structures have been lost and only three were threatened with no new threats as of Friday afternoon, according to fire officials.
But, Clay noted, working in remote areas with steep and rugged terrain has also “made access a challenge.”
Despite a temperature drop of about 10 degrees compared to yesterday and other more favorable conditions, Clay said fire activity was expected to grow and pick up some in the afternoon, as more firefighting resources were being ordered.
Ground work along the fire’s right flank was a priority Friday, according to Cal Fire updates, with 15 assigned bulldozers establishing control lines and access. They were supported by air operations to tie in control lines from the Rattlesnake Ridge to Sugarloaf Mountain in order to best protect residential communities like Deer Park and Angwin.
The eastern front of the fire moving toward Pope Valley, “we’re calling that the head of the fire,” Hernandez said. “We have heavy aircraft and ground resources focused there,” including Type 1 helicopters making water drops, numerous engine strike teams and hand crews and several dozers. “We want to box the area and keep it west of Aetna Springs.
As the only active fire in the region, fire officials have ample resources to attack the flames. More than 400 personnel have been deployed, and crews have come from all over the state, and “if needed we can bring more,” Hernandez said. “We’re very grateful for the mutual aid.”
Firefighters worked through the night Thursday with three night-flying helicopters doing water drops, eight dozers reopening access roads and building contingency lines and 53 engines, eight hand crews and four water tenders were also in action overnight.
Napa County Supervisor Anne Cottrell, who represents the affected region, told The Press Democrat Friday she’s been making efforts to check in with people in Angwin and the Aetna Springs area as the fire burns.
Those in Aetna Springs can see the air attack on the fire as well as fire dozers, she said, and people in Angwin are seeing fire trucks and other grounded resources move through the area.
“Things can change quickly, what I’m hearing from residents is confidence in those resources,” Cottrell said.
As the fire progressed Friday, air quality in parts of the North Bay reached “very unhealthy” levels in the afternoon, with the worst impacts reported in areas immediately around the fire but deteriorated conditions stretching well into surrounding counties.
Regional air quality authorities issued advisories for Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties, noting older adults, pregnant individuals, children and those with respiratory illnesses and heart conditions are most at risk.
Winds from the south and southwest pushed smoke north toward Middletown and other areas in southern Lake County, and to the east, while conditions remained in the “good” to “moderate” levels to the west of the fire.
The UpValley Family Centers and the Calistoga Joint Unified School District announced the cancellation of a Back to School Celebration, set for Friday, because of the smoke.
National Weather Service meteorologist Dial Hoang said smoke could be pushed further north through the evening, although winds are expected to weaken overnight and into Saturday morning.
You can reach “In Your Corner” Columnist Marisa Endicott at 707-521-5470 or marisa.endicott@pressdemocrat.com. On X (formerly Twitter) @InYourCornerTPD and Facebook @InYourCornerTPD.
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