In this episode, David Shew, the Napa County Fire Administrator, discusses his role and plant to create fire resilient landscapes. With the increasing severity of wildfires on the built environment there is a need now, more than ever, for proactive planning. They discuss the role of prescribed burns, the importance of collaboration between landowners and fire managers, and the need for more conversations about fire management strategies. David touches on the current fire season and the challenges faced by grape growers in managing vineyards during extreme weather conditions.

In "Glass with a Grower," Andrew Opatz, the Director of Vineyard Operations  at Chappellet, shares a bottle of 2021 Chappellet Prichard Hill and discuss the particular challenges with water during that growing season. Andrew goes on to share all the proactive work being done at Chappellet Vineyards to create a fire-resilient property and the importance of safety measures for vineyard workers.

Additional resources on wildfire preparedness can be found on the NVG Website. ​

"The truth is, we are dealing with the compounding impacts of climate change and over 100 years of land management decisions. We can't turn back time, but we have to act now." -David Shew

"Napa County has been one of the most progressive and effective practitioners of fire prevention, thanks to the real commitment from both public and private partnerships here." - ​David Shew

"To effectively conduct prescribed burns, we need more collaboration—between landowners, growers, fire agencies, and environmental groups—to plan when, where, and how we can safely and strategically reintroduce fire." - ​David Shew

"We use advanced tech, like sap flow and evapotranspiration sensors, but boots on the ground are still essential. Nothing beats walking through the vineyard and seeing things firsthand." -Andrew Opatz

"We’ve built an independent fire defense system at Chappellet with a water tender, gel trailer, and strategically placed standpipes across the property to help protect our people and structures in a fire." -Andrew Opatz

Dear members,

With great gratitude for our local firefighting crews, last week’s smoke has cleared, and containment of regional fires progresses. It was a sobering reminder of the importance of our community’s ongoing focus on wildfire resiliency.

Just this last week, NVG representatives attended Napa County’s budget hearings. We’ve advocated over the last several years for greater allocation of resources for wildfire and were encouraged to hear that the now approved budget includes the greatest community investment in wildfire and disaster prevention to date. It was noted in these hearings that the vigor of the local wine industry is uniquely tied to the county’s revenues and available services via property and sales tax. This further goes to show that NVG’s support of the grower community has a direct and positive impact on the community as a whole.

On your behalf, we are building strong ties with Napa County’s new Fire Administrator, David Shew, who will be a guest on our podcast in July. We hope you tune in to hear more about his vision for Napa County to become a model of wildfire readiness. 

We continue to work in lockstep with Napa County Ag Commissioner Tracy Cleveland to ensure an easy-to-navigate Ag Pass Program. If you are not yet enrolled in the 2024 Program, now is the time to do so.

We appreciated hearing from many of you last week, seeking our guidance and support in understanding smoke impacts and fielding your concerns about scheduled controlled burns as we rapidly approach veraison. While controlled burns are an essential wildfire mitigation tactic here in Napa County, we are working to address the need for a crop protection overlay with CalFire and community stakeholders, taking into consideration timing and scale of controlled burns at times when grapes are most susceptible to smoke. Following outreach with Napa County Fire this week, we want members to be aware that controlled burns are now suspended for the season, as fire personnel and resources shift their attention to fire suppression.

Meanwhile, our understanding of the impacts of smoke exposure on winegrapes continues to improve. We completed our third year of baseline data collection with ETS Labs and encourage you all to follow our best practices guidelines for collecting baseline grape samples this growing season, both to inform your teams as well as the global testing methodology.
​
Don’t forget to access all your member wildfire resources when in need or reach out to an NVG staff member anytime. Our team is here for you through this wildfire season!

We continue to support the grape-growing community in fire-readiness and resiliency. This update includes important, upcoming deadlines and events. For access to all of NVG's fire resources, visit our website.

Fire Preparedness Town Hall
Tuesday, May 30 | 6pm - 7pm | Facebook Live
​Napa County, CAL FIRE, and Napa Firewise will host a virtual Fire Preparedness Town Hall with Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza of District 4. 

Guest Speakers

• Jason Martin - Deputy Chief, Napa County Fire Department
• Erick Hernandez - Code Compliance Officer, Napa County 
• Christopher Thompson - Chair, Napa Communities Firewise Foundation ​

​For inquiries about the Town Hall, email Ximena Espinosa, [email protected].

USDA Program Deadline Extensions
​​The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is extending the deadline for the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase Two and Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program (PARP) to July 14, 2023, to give producers more time to apply for assistance.

Napa County's New Defensible Space Compliance Certificate
​​The Defensible Space Compliance Certificate is offered to all property owners that are consistent with Napa County Defensible Space Ordinance and Guidelines, which includes commercial and residential properties. The County-issued certificate may assist with the property owner's insurance company.
 
Anyone interested in learning more can email Erick Hernandez, Code Compliance Officer of Napa County, at [email protected] or call (707) 399-1464.

Advocating for a Resilient Napa Valley

At the Napa Valley Grapegrowers we center our advocacy, research, and education on supporting the community, including the crucial preparation for, and resiliency in the face of, wildfire risks. We are grateful to all the industry and community partners that have worked with us on the following efforts.

Fire-Related Initiatives

To urge Napa County to include funding for fire-related initiatives in its five-year budget forecast, we recently sent a letter to the Napa County Board of Supervisors making this request. The letter seeks funding for a county staff department head for fire issues, Napa Firewise’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and a review of current and new early detection systems and technologies. Napa County’s action on these initiatives will provide oversight on CAL FIRE’s $30 million-dollar contract, help to reduce wildfire-fuel load, and identify new technologies that help to alert emergency responders as soon as a fire ignites, potentially saving the loss of lives and property.

Photo by Sarah Anne Risk

Our Fire Resources Fair expanded this year to include 60 vendors at the Napa Valley Expo. In partnership with the Napa Valley Vintners, Napa Firewise and CAL FIRE / Napa County Fire, the event was open to the public free of charge. Attendees were provided with a range of information for safeguarding their property, vineyards, and homes in the event of a wildfire—an ongoing threat despite our wet winter. By providing these resources, attendees who take action can potentially prevent and mitigate the risk of loss in the case of a wildfire.
 
If you missed the fair, you can find detailed checklists on wildfire preparedness for home and property, fire emergency protocol, and dealing with smoke exposure along with videos on risk management, crop insurance and proper record keeping in both English and Spanish.

Support for California Assembly Bill 54

In March, we submitted a letter of support to the Chair on the Assembly Committee for Agriculture on behalf of Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry's CA AB 54, which will create an advisory committee to recommend the distribution of state funds for winegrape smoke exposure research. Additionally, we provided a letter of support to four Chairs in the Senate and Assembly budget committees to request $5 million to research smoke impact on winegrapes. The losses from wildfires and smoke exposure potentially impacts all of California due to property loss, wage loss, loss of tourism, and loss of production due to smoke exposed grapes. Research to understand and mitigate the impact is critical to avoiding the catastrophic losses of the last six years.​

​Baseline Data Research with ETS Labs

It was a groundbreaking effort in 2021, when we formed a partnership with ETS Laboratories to conduct baseline data research on smoke exposure and wine grapes, building the world’s largest library of grape samples in the process. Now in its third year, we are happy to continue working with ETS on the findings of this research, which has the potential to influence grape-harvesting decisions in times of fire disaster and even insurance reform.​

Insurance and Disaster Relief

The Napa Valley Grapegrowers continues to support Congressman Mike Thompson’s staff as they work to update the 2023 Farm Bill to improve crop insurance coverage and design a permanent disaster assistance program.
 
After more than two years of advocacy work, we continue to monitor the rollout of the Emergency Relief Program to ensure growers receive recovery aid. As part of this we continue to partner with Morrison & Co., to provide free technical assistance to producers, which to date has resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in recovery aid awarded to Napa Valley Grapegrowers members.

​Napa County has begun conducting a countywide Fire Needs Assessment in efforts to create a Fire Master Plan. Napa County’s consultant, AP Triton, has released a survey to provide community members an opportunity for input. The Napa Valley Grapegrowers encourages members to participate. The survey will be open until 5:00 pm on February 8.

​The purpose of a Long-Range Master Plan is to evaluate the County Fire Department in relation to the community’s current risks, anticipate community growth, and recommend solutions. The study will review fire department response data, department staffing levels, apparatus and station conditions and locations, and the County’s unique hazards and infrastructure. The study is intended to position the County to address that growth in advance with appropriate resources and infrastructure.

By Jess Lander, SF Chronicle
As California enters the height of fire season, Napa wine and hospitality groups have joined forces in an effort to stop blazes from getting out of control. 
With government resources spread thin and a wildfire prevention initiative failing to pass in Napa in June, private organizations are stepping in. Together, the Napa Valley Grapegrowers, Napa Valley Vintners and Visit Napa Valley are spending $33,000 per month for around-the-clock monitoring of artificial intelligence-powered cameras that can detect a fire within seconds of starting.

But the collaboration is only a temporary solution. While it will hopefully help keep residents and businesses safe through the current fire season, the groups also want to send a clear message to Napa County to do more next year.

The Napa Valley Grapegrowers, Napa Valley Vintners, and Visit Napa Valley have joined together to fund three early detection wildfire sensors on Atlas Peak, Clover Flat, and Diamond Mountain with 24/7 monitoring to protect Napa County residents and businesses from wildfires. The three organizations have assumed financial responsibility for the service through the months of September, October, and November 2022: the peak of Napa County’s fire season, covering some of the County’s highest fire-risk areas.
 
The Illumination Technologies (ITC) state of the art “IQ FireWatch sensors” triangulate locations of potential fire threats, including identifying specific parcel numbers in Napa County.  This program was initiated in 2021 by Napa County and was maintained through public funds. Continued funding was expected to come from the ¼ percent sales tax proposed in Napa County’s Measure L, which unfortunately did not pass. To fill the gap, local grape growers Caymus Vineyards, E. & J. Gallo Winery, and Circle R Ranch & Vineyards generously donated funds to keep the sensors active during the beginning of the 2022 fire season.  When the service was set to discontinue on August 31, 2022, the Napa Valley Grapegrowers, Napa Valley Vintners, and Visit Napa Valley stepped up to ensure early detection services continue uninterrupted through the end of this fire season. This partnership is a model for community-based resiliency work in the face of increased fire and climate risks that have greatly affected the Napa Valley community over the last several years.
 
“When we realized the service was at risk of shutting down, these organizations sprang into action to ensure the sensors stayed on. Early detection is a valuable tool in the toolbox when it comes to protecting the entire community from the wildfires like we’ve experienced over the last several years. Now with the partnership between Napa Valley Grapegrowers, Visit Napa Valley, and Napa Valley Vintners, this program will continue to safeguard the Napa Valley community through fire season. We’re proud to carry this community-first, collaborative initiative forward,” said Tom Davies, president and part-owner of V.Sattui Winery, who sits on the Napa Valley Grapegrowers Board of Directors, is the FY23 Chair of Visit Napa Valley Board of Directors, and is a long-time member of the Napa Valley Vintners.
 
The three existing cameras currently cover 48% of Napa County in high-risk areas. As part of this initiative, Napa Valley Grapegrowers, Napa Valley Vintners, and Visit Napa Valley are committed to working with other industry and community partners during this fire season and onward to implement a long-term plan for maintaining ongoing early detection services and expanding coverage to more areas throughout the County.
 
To support funding for the wildfire detection sensors, please email Molly Moran Williams, NVG Industry and Community Relations Director, at [email protected].

On Monday, as temperatures reached record highs, the NVG-funded wildfire sensors were first to detect a fire in the Oakville/Yountville area enabling the Fire Department to get it under control right away. Additionally, NVG is awaiting reports on three additional fire detections picked up by the sensors and kept under control within the last 24 hours. With the heat advisory still in effect, we are grateful to have 24/7 early fire detection still in place in high-risk areas of Napa County.
 
In August, NVG announced carrying forward a fire detection initiative funding three early detection sensors for the month of September on Atlas Peak, Clover Flat, and Diamond Mountain with 24/7 monitoring to protect Napa County residents and businesses from wildfires.
 
As part of this initiative, NVG has also committed to working with industry and community partners to ensure detection through the 2022 fire season while scoping how to maintain early detection for the long-term for Napa County.

NVG will carry forward a fire detection initiative, funding three early detection sensors for the month of September on Atlas Peak, Clover Flat, and Diamond Mountain with 24/7 monitoring to protect Napa County residents and businesses from wildfires.
 
The Illumination Technologies (ITC) state of the art “IQ FireWatch sensors” triangulate locations of potential fire threats including identifying specific parcel numbers in Napa County. This program was initiated in 2021, funded by Napa County. However, without the passing of Measure L, the service could no longer be maintained through public funds. Through the generosity of local grape growers, the sensors have continued to protect the community through the month of August. NVG will be taking on fiscal responsibility for the service through the month of September, at the peak of harvest and Napa County’s fire season—and in some of the County’s highest fire-risk areas.

“When we realized the service was at risk of shutting down, NVG leadership sprung into action to ensure the sensors stayed on. Early detection is a valuable tool in the toolbox when it comes to protecting the entire community from the wildfires like we’ve experienced over the last several years. We’re proud to carry this community-first, collaborative initiative forward,” said Tom Davies, who sits on NVG’s Board of Directors, Industry Issues Committee, and Wildfire Task Force.
 
As part of this initiative, NVG also commits to working with industry and community partners during the month of September and onward to implement a long-term plan for maintaining ongoing early detection services and expanding coverage to more areas throughout the County. 
 
NVG would like to recognize the incredible generosity and stewardship of Caymus Vineyards and Circle R Ranch & Vineyards for their individual contributions that allowed the ITC service to remain in place through August in service to the entire community.
 
In addition to this initiative, the NVG Wildfire Task Force is engaged with several other projects including:

• NVG’s Smoke Exposure Data Benchmarking Project in partnership with ETS Labs; ETS Labs’ latest findings will be presented at this year’s ROOTSTOCK symposium on November 18
• Advancing Napa County’s Ag Pass Program to ensure a safe, at-the-ready program in partnership with the Napa County Ag Commissioner and industry partners
• Ongoing education on fuel load reduction and fire safety
• Aiding members in recovery and access to critical Emergency Relief Program (ERP) disaster assistance

For more information, NVG members can access a complete library of Wildfire Resources on NVG’s website.