Winery presses Cal Fire to examine melted battery on its property as possible Pickett Fire cause

Representatives for Hundred Acre Wines, the winery based north of Calistoga, have asked Cal Fire to investigate a trailer on its property as a potential ignition source for the Pickett Fire.

The blaze scorched swaths of Napa County last month and appears to have started on or near the company’s land, according to Cal Fire’s incident page.

In a letter described by company spokesperson Sam Singer, attorneys for Hundred Acre asked investigators to examine a damaged battery inside a trailer “at the location that we understand Cal Fire has identified as the possible ignition site of the fire.”

Singer said the battery was “partially melted.”

Singer previously confirmed company representatives have been speaking with and cooperating with Cal Fire during its ongoing probe.

The Pickett Fire broke out on the afternoon of Aug. 21 amid triple-digit heat. Flames swept through rugged hillsides and canyons scarred by the 2020 Glass Fire, ultimately burning more than 6,800 acres.

Evacuation orders stretched from Calistoga near Silverado Trail and Pickett Road northeast through the Palisades and Swartz canyons to Pope Valley Road.

More than 2,700 emergency personnel — along with dozens of helicopters, engines and bulldozers — battled the fire for more than two weeks before achieving full containment. One home and four outbuildings were destroyed, and crop losses are estimated at $65 million, according to a preliminary analysis by the Napa County agricultural commissioner.

The fire’s listed origin point — 2343 Pickett Road — sits within adjoining properties owned by vintner Jayson Woodbridge’s Hundred Acre company. Woodbridge has acquired multiple Napa Valley properties in recent years.

He reportedly spent the first night of the fire defending his Pickett Road home and winery from advancing flames. Singer has been speaking on behalf of Woodbridge and Hundred Acre.

Singer said the trailer cited in the letter to Cal Fire, which survived the blaze, sits only a few feet away from where investigators believe the fire may have started. He did not share the letter, citing legal privilege, but read sections of it verbatim to The Press Democrat.

“We understand that Cal Fire has looked at the adjacent wood pile as a potential source of the Pickett Fire,” the letter stated, according to Singer. “We ask that Cal Fire investigate if the apparent fault-type damage to the battery in the trailer was or could be a cause of the Pickett Fire and report back with its conclusions.”

Several potential causes for the fire have been raised, but Cal Fire has not disclosed or confirmed details about its ongoing investigation.

Earlier, news outlets reported Cal Fire was reviewing whether the disposal of smoldering ashes on the vineyard property might have sparked the fire. According to Singer, a contractor working on a newly built outdoor fireplace the day the fire broke out was curing bricks and thought the ashes had been properly extinguished.

Dispatch traffic on a Cal Fire public safety channel just after 3 p.m. the day the fire broke out referenced a “vegetation fire” and a possible “escaped control burn.” Cal Fire has suspended residential burn permits in Napa County without a formal exemption. The Press Democrat has requested records of any burn permit exemptions issued for properties in the area.

Singer has said no controlled burns took place on Hundred Acre property that day.

Cal Fire spokesperson Tyree Zander said Thursday he could not confirm whether the agency had received the letter at its Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit but did not rule out that other Cal Fire investigators may have it.

He declined to provide further detail, citing the ongoing investigation.

Cal Fire has not provided a timeline for when its findings will be released. Zander said investigations often take time and involve many variables, “especially with the magnitude and size of the fire they had.”

You can reach senior reporter Marisa Endicott at 707-521-5470 or marisa.endicott@pressdemocrat.com. On X (formerly Twitter) @marisaendicott and Facebook @InYourCornerTPD.