Nothing here. If I did not read about it here, I would not kmow anything about this.
Yesterday, there was a steady stream of CAL Fire trucks northbound by the store, heading to the fire. Today, about 4 PM, I saw 4 of them southbound heading home for a rest after a 24 stint on the fire line. I doubt I’ve ever been as tired as the men and women on those trucks.
I do hope all those people fighting the fire stay safe and are able to help get it under control. One of the B&Bs I stayed at on my last trip is on Sage Canyon road and is a little too close for my comfort to where the fire cordon is displayed as being located.
Great pic
I smelled a bit of smoke in south St Helena today and the trees’ movement seemed to suggest a slight wind shift but I’m not sure if it was someone’s BBQ or this fire.
Lots of south-bound emergency vehicles on 29 this afternoon, too.
It was ridiculous. It was like a brown fog in the air down here in Sonoma County for a month with maybe 1/4 - 1/2 mile visibility. Even with that the only taint seemed to come from Mendocino County/Anderson Valley fruit. For it to show up in the wine it obviously has to be pretty bad exposure for a relatively long period of time.
My uncle was with Cal Fire (CDF) for 30+ years. One of his many stories had to do with a food run that was delivered to the front line of a fire - from KFC. Each firefighter was given a box that had chicken and then sides that included mashed potatoes and an extra container of gravy. You can bet that every scrap of sustenance was consumed, including the extra gravy that was joyfully slurped directly out of the container without a second thought.
Looks like we’ll see it in person tomorrow!!
With regard to smoke taint. The 4 methyl guiacol compound present in smoke chemically binds with glucose and fructose. Verasion is the time when the grapes are rapidly accumulating sugar and is therefore the most vulnerable period for smoke taint to occur. This compound is absorbed through the leaves of the plant more than the skins of the grape, though that is also a minor contributing factor. It does take quite a long period of exposure in order to do real damage.
Nothing to see from St Helena today. Must have been blown too far east.
I never saw any sign of it from here at all. The other night, there was a lot of air traffic overhead, and I was thinking how annoying that was. Until I read that the airplanes were going out of Santa Rosa airport to fight the fire.
Thanks to all the men and women who do this emergency work.
good video of the smoke associated with the fire:
Latest update is the fire is 47% contained. You can get more updates at the Cal Fire site here:
http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=1148
Sorry to hear you’re getting lots of smoke up there John. I’m betting they’ll have it contained and mostly out in a day or two, so hopefully the smoke will dissipate quickly.
Smoke in North Reno tonight. Not too heavy but hazy and scented.
Alan,
I am far from a smoke taint expert, but my current understanding is that the smoke related chemicals are absorbed by the leaves and pushed into the fruit with other leaf metabolites. Although I think it is difficult to test, current theory is that at or around verasion is when the vine is most sensitive and picks up smoke best. I have seen fruit from the same vineyard, the same year where one variety has detectable taint while other varieties don’t. I attribute that to the different varieties going through verasion at different times.
I don’t think it can be stated with certainty that smoke taint can’t happen at other times if the smoke is very concentrated. If it is concentrated enough, it seems likely that some would get into the wine as you say by the chemicals contacting the skin of the grapes.
Please feel free to correct or add to this. It is just my current understanding and I am more that interested to learn if others have better, more certain ideas than mine.
The wind has shifted and the fire seems to have found more vigor, southern Napa Is under a sheet of smoke, very obvious smoke plume to the NE.
Yup - sun is shining through the plume, giving an brownish/orange quality of light, both in south Napa and in Sonoma. Actually does remind me quite a bit of 2008, with the major difference of surface air seems to be clear. 2008 at it’s worst you would see the haze at ground level when just looking down the road - not to mention the smell.
A wind shift has caused the fire to jump the lines and start burning SSE from NE. 103 degree temps also contributed. Napa and Solano County Sheriffs have been placed officers on standby, taking their patrol cars home, should evacuations be required.
Mike, we were on the golf course when the smoke cloud drifted into south Napa, blocking the sun. Everything had a tan or gold tint. My irons were gold, the cart paths tan, the fairways a tannish green and the sand traps were reddish brown. Eerie.
There still has been no sign of this fire up as far as Calistoga - I am about 2 miles south of “downtown” Calistoga. I have not been to Napa for at least 10 days. St. Helena this morning showed no signs, either.
We’re getting the smoky sky and orange sun in Northern Marin County.