Podcast Episode 19: Fighting Fire with Foresight: Lessons from the Pickett Fire with CALFIRE Chiefs Matt Ryan and JC Greenberg & Glass with a Grower, Bill Hanna

In this episode of Grown in Napa Valley, host Caleb Mosley speaks with CAL FIRE’s Matt Ryan and JC Greenberg about the recent Pickett Fire in Calistoga and the evolution of wildfire management in Napa County. They recount how lessons learned from past disasters like the Glass Fire informed a faster, more coordinated response, aided by years of fuel reduction, maintained containment lines, and collaboration with Napa Firewise. New technology—including AI-enabled smoke detection, night-flying helicopters, and mobile retardant bases—has revolutionized early fire response. The chiefs emphasize that resilience depends on community-wide preparedness: defensible space, pre-fire planning, and responsible vineyard burn practices to prevent smoke impacts during harvest.
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The conversation then turns to Bill Hanna, Napa Valley Grapegrowers’ first Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, who reflects on his family’s 50-year partnership with Château Montelena and their deep roots in Napa farming. Hanna shares how trust, quality, and collaboration have sustained this grower–winery relationship across generations. Beyond the vineyard, he highlights decades of advocacy for farmworker housing and community well-being, noting Napa’s leadership as the only county where growers self-assess to fund workforce housing. Looking ahead, Hanna discusses the need for balance—between groundwater use, vineyard density, pricing, and long-term environmental stewardship—underscoring education and cooperation as the keys to Napa Valley’s enduring agricultural legacy.

Episode Highlights:

• “We pulled out the Glass Fire playbook and threw everything at it — air tankers, helicopters, dozers — everything we’d learned over the past five years came together.” - Chief Matt Ryan
• “The work we did before the Pickett Fire — those containment lines, those partnerships — that’s what saved us. The real fight starts long before the flames.” - Chief Matt Ryan
  
• “The terrain was steep, rugged, unforgiving. Our crews hiked miles just to reach the fire’s edge. Every firefighter out there knew exactly what was at stake.” - Deputy Chief JC Greenberg
  
• “Defensible space doesn’t just protect your home — it protects your neighbors, your community, and the valley we all love.” - Deputy Chief JC Greenberg
  
• “What started as a handshake between my dad and Jim Barrett at Château Montelena turned into a 50-year partnership — and three generations of trust.” - Bill Hanna 
  
• “Our biggest challenge isn’t just drought or markets — it’s remembering that sustainability means balance: between the land, the water, and each other.” - Bill Hanna