Nearly a month after the Pickett wildfire began, the cause of the blaze in the hills at the northern end of Napa Valley remains the subject of investigation. Now, lawyers for the winery that owns the property where the blaze may have started have asked state fire investigators to look at another possible cause—a faulty car battery.
Wine Spectator has viewed a letter from attorneys representing Hundred Acre Wines to CalFire, the state fire agency, asking investigators to examine a damaged battery inside a trailer on Hundred Acre’s property, near where the fire is believed to have started. The letter says there is evidence of a faulty terminal on the battery and asks CalFire’s investigators to look into whether electricity from that terminal could have started a blaze.
This is the third possible theory for how the fire started on Hundred Acre’s property at 2343 Pickett Road, in the hills northeast of Calistoga. Local media has said that radio traffic on a CalFire dispatch line Aug. 21, the afternoon the fire broke out, reported a possible controlled burn. CalFire has banned controlled burns in the area since June, when weather became hot and dry. Sam Singer, a spokesman for Hundred Acre, has said that no controlled burns have taken place.
In the days after the fire began, reports emerged that investigators spoke to a contract worker and a manager at Hundred Acre about whether discarded ashes from an outdoor oven may have started the fire. Hundred Acre owner Jayson Woodbridge has not responded to requests for comment.
The fire grew rapidly in the first 24 hours after it began, spreading northeast toward Pope Valley before cooler, more humid weather moved into the area and helped hundreds of firefighters contain it. CalFire announced that it was completely contained after 17 days, burning a total of 6,819 acres. No injuries were reported, and one house and four outbuildings were destroyed. Most wine regions were spared, but some vineyards burned and wineries in Pope Valley and on Howell Mountain are testing grapes for smoke taint. Crop losses are estimated at $65 million, according to a preliminary analysis by the Napa agricultural commissioner.
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