Hell Descends on California Wine Country

If a picture is worth 1000 words, this one speaks volumes.



Here's the Wired article that it came from...

Hell in CA

Damn!



That stuff doesnt just grow back like tomatoes.

Such a horrific loss of life.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

Well neither do tomatoes.

a reply to: Riffrafter

Damn, all that wine!

I guess folk will have to stick to PROPER beverages, like ales and spirits! What a chore!

In all seriousness though, these images, while epic in appearance, tell a story of job loss, property damage in the millions and millions per acre squared I would have thought, as well as potentially the loss of entire businesses. It always surprises me when something like this happens in vineyard country. Vines require irrigation systems, so that they do not dry out too much when it is hot (at least, this is my understanding of the matter). Surely it would not be impossible to simply put all the sprinklers and the systems at full blast, to heavily dampen the Earth, preventing the fire spreading?

I remember seeing a picture of the aftermath of a wildfire once, the shot featuring one house left standing amid a fire blasted, blackened vista, the house being surrounded by a small patch of green, burn free earth. Apparently, the owner had left his sprinkler systems on when he and his family had bugged out. This small move saved their home, if not the full extent of the property within their boundary lines.

I wonder how it is, that businesses relying on these large tracts of land, do not operate a similar policy.

a reply to: Riffrafter

That's some pic. Really gives an idea of the scale of what is facing the people in Cali.

I really feel awful for those people. They may have been wealthy before but this could be a financial loss from hell.

This sucks.

-Alee

a reply to: BlueJacket

Plant some seeds and in a couple-few months you have fruit, with tomatoes that is.

Grapes theyll have to special order the new specimens, and it take them a couple years to start filling in again towards production quantity.

Which means if those fields burn then being able to purchase new starter plants the market going to be sold out for a while. Meaning if you had been considering planting some you had better go an order RIGHT NOW (assuming you can even find any that stock or ship those European types this time of year).

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
Damn!

That stuff doesnt just grow back like tomatoes.

Then the wine starts tasting like Scotch due to the grape skin absorbing smoke. They can still sell it, but the price crashes.

That, alone, could reach hundreds of millions in revenue loss.

originally posted by: nwtrucker

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
Damn!

That stuff doesnt just grow back like tomatoes.

Then the wine starts tasting like Scotch due to the grape skin absorbing smoke. They can still sell it, but the price crashes.

That, alone, could reach hundreds of millions in revenue loss.

The disaster victims can register for monetary aid via FEMA and if the quality of the wine is compromised, then that should be viewed as another type of disaster and additional funds should be made available, or they should ask for additional monies now to dig and re-soil the land.

www.fema.gov...

There is no extensive damage to the area planted to vineyards, many of the fires stopped at the vineyard edge and were unable to progress due to the plantings between the rows having be mowed recently. I was just on the phone with several of the wineries we purchased from and all of them are still shipping as scheduled.

Here is an article on the few that were damaged, most of them were boutique growers on hillsides or atop the mountains:

A closer look at 22 wineries damaged by Wine Country fires.

originally posted by: nwtrucker
Then the wine starts tasting like Scotch due to the grape skin absorbing smoke. They can still sell it, but the price crashes.

The majority of the grapes for this season were picked prior to the fires, very little remained once they broke out.

I heard a claim that much of California's marijuana is grown in this same area. Some are suggesting that Mexican drug cartels started these fires, to eliminate the local competitors.

And to think it could have all been prevented. News outlets reporting the fires were started by an illegal alien who has been deported back to Mexico twice already. Has a record of arson. But since Sonoma county is a "sanctuary" place they don't comply with ICE.

I hope the citizens there who lost everything will finally stand up for themselves and kick out the asinine politicians who enable these activities to occur.

It's a damn shame none of it had to happen.

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
I heard a claim that much of California's marijuana is grown in this same area. Some are suggesting that Mexican drug cartels started these fires, to eliminate the local competitors.

Doesnt seem smart as they need all that woodland cover thats being vaporized.

originally posted by: jjkenobi
News outlets reporting the fires were started by an illegal alien who has been deported back to Mexico twice already.

Do you have a link to these?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Looks like it was fake news from Breitbart.

Sheriff Refutes Breitbart Report Linking Wine Country Fires To Illegal Immigrant

All the usual suspects ran with it:

No, An Undocumented Immigrant Is Not Behind The Deadly California Wildfires

Get a few lorry-loads of disposable nappies and put them through a wood-chipper (unsoiled tho - ugh), or get the stuff they're made of, then drop the lot on the fires from above.

Seriously, has anyone ever tried incinerating disposable nappies? Man, those suckers won't burn for love nor money.

a reply to: theantediluvian


He's probably in on it.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

He probably set the fires to distract attention from his rape spree.