CALIFORNIA STEAMIN’
WILDFIRES RAVAGE WINE COUNTRY
A monster fire in Northern California’s famed wine region exploded to more than 10,000 acres Thursday as more than a half-million people across the state were left in the dark due to planned power outages.
The massive Kincade fire in Sonoma County forced all residents in the tiny town of Geyserville to evacuate. Flames chewed through a rugged hillside, burned structures and charred rows of grape vines amid windy conditions.
Winemaker Jesse Giacomelli got an evacuation advisory message and drove out to a police barricade near the fire’s edge at Pine Flat Road and Highway 128 in Geyserville around 5:30 a.m. Thursday.
“It looked like the apocalypse. It was pretty intense. You could see all along the ridge line, it was on fire, and the wind was so strong. I was pretty scared,” he told the Daily News.
Giacomelli previously worked at Zialena Wines in an area hard hit by the blaze.
“Thank you all for checking in. As of now [the] winery is safe but due to the #kincade fire Zialena Winery will be closed until we know more,” the winery said in a Facebook post.
Katie Ambrosi, marketing director for Wilson Artisan Wines, said she felt “heartsick” when she saw a Press Democrat photo showing flames burning signage at Crazy Creek Vineyard on Geysers Road.
“It’s a devastating image. What it represents is devastating,” she told The News. “People lost their homes. It’s incredibly tragic. Our hearts go out to them.”
Francis Ford Coppola’s famous winery left a message on its voicemail and social media accounts telling visitors it would remained closed for the day but appeared to be out of harm’s way. Others did the same.
CalFire officials said the blaze was at 0% containment Thursday afternoon and that it was still too soon to say how many structures were damaged or destroyed. No injuries were immediately reported.
“It’s kind of, ‘Here we go again.’ It’s draining for sure,” Ambrosi told The News. “But I also hope the message goes out that not everything is on fire. I have the benefit of looking south, in the other direction, and seeing beautiful vineyards turning fall colors and a blue sky.”
As firefighters battled the Kincade blaze, nearly 200,000 homes and businesses across California woke up in the dark Thursday due to a pre-planned power outage aimed at preventing wildfires.
The latest round of blackouts, affected portions of 17 California counties — includwind ing Sonoma.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that while local customers were without power around the time the Kincade fire allegedly started, high-power transmission lines had not been turned off. The utility that owns the lines, Pacific Gas & Electric, said its 230,000-volt and 115,000-volt transmission lines in the area were still active.
According to the National Weather Center, maximum speeds of 70 mph in the area fueled the brush fire's rapid spread, and strong gusts of wind forecast in the coming days are expected to drive the flames south.
PG&E warned customers earlier in the week that weather conditions could force a wave of blackouts.
“For public safety, it may be necessary for us to turn off electricity when gusty winds and dry conditions, combined with a heightened risk of fire are forecasted. This is called a ‘public safety power shutoff,'” according to the PG&E website.
“While customers in high fire-threat areas are more likely to be affected, any of PG&E's more than 5 million customers could have their power shut off. This is because the energy system relies on power lines working together to provide electricity across cities.”
The blackouts Thursday marked the second time this month PG&E turned off power to hundreds of thousands of Californians in bid to prevent their equipment from sparking a potentially deadly blaze.
Nearly 800,000 customers faced outages in early October, prompting criticism from residents and high-profile officials alike.
PG&E earlier this year declared the largest bankruptcy in United States history as it faced liabilities after its downed power lines sparked the last year's deadly Camp fire, which claimed the lives of 85 people.
The company in September announced it had agreed to pay an $11 billion settlement to cover the damages caused by wildfires across northern California in 2017 as well as the Camp fire.