‘Apocalyptic’ Scenes in Napa and Sonoma

Communities along Northern California's famous wine region have been ravaged by wildfires that came out of nowhere.
By Olive Oil Times Staff on October 10, 2017
Filed in N. America

More than a dozen wild­fires con­tin­ued to dev­as­tate swaths of Napa and Sonoma coun­ties in Northern California today, scorch­ing over 100,000 acres of homes, busi­nesses, vine­yards and olive groves.

I just heard that one of our smaller pro­duc­ers lost her home in Santa Rosa. This is dev­as­tat­ing to all of the com­mu­ni­ties affected. We are hope­ful that every­one is safe.- Patricia Darragh, COOC

At least 11 peo­ple have died and 20,000 are home­less, accord­ing to the lat­est esti­mate from the State of California, within the two stun­ningly beau­ti­ful val­leys famous for their wines and increas­ingly known for olive oil too.

Olive Oil Times has checked in with a num­ber of pro­duc­ers in the region, who reported “apoc­a­lyp­tic” scenes, olive trees coated with ash and soot, and com­mu­ni­ties in shock.

Firefighters con­tained some of the fires today as winds that had fanned the flames sub­sided overnight, but many had yet to be tamed.

Many have yet to return to their homes after forced evac­u­a­tions and don’t know if their houses and belong­ings were spared or destroyed.

Patricia Darragh, the direc­tor of the California Olive Oil Council said it was too soon to tell how most in the close-knit com­mu­nity of grow­ers have fared.

“Since the fires are still rag­ing, com­mu­ni­ca­tions are spotty. We have been send­ing emails and texts to our mem­bers and, as of this morn­ing, all are safe but many have been evac­u­ated from their homes,” Darragh said today.

“I just heard that one of our smaller pro­duc­ers lost her home in Santa Rosa. This is dev­as­tat­ing to all of the com­mu­ni­ties affected. We are hope­ful that every­one is safe.”

An assess­ment of prop­erty and agri­cul­tural dam­age will be forth­com­ing as com­mu­ni­ca­tions improve, she added.

Sonoma County-based con­sul­tant Alexandra Kicenik Devarenne also said those in her net­work she has been able to reach were safe, but sev­eral col­leagues lost their homes. “Today I think we will get a bet­ter han­dle on the extent of the dam­age,” she added, “but it’s ongo­ing.”

According to CNN, nearly 35,000 are with­out power through­out the state and more than 1,500 homes and busi­nesses were destroyed.

No rain is in the fore­cast for the region over the next seven days.

This is break­ing news. Check back for updates.

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