How fancy new resorts in Napa’s Wine Country increases fire risk

This massive expansion of the tourism industry comes at a contentious time. Environmental experts say that such development increases the risk of wildfires, yet visitor demand in Wine Country is high. Some of these resorts have undertaken exhaustive and expensive fire mitigation measures to protect their properties and guests, but it might not be enough.

Humans are responsible for 95% of wildfire ignitions in California, according to Peter Broderick, a staff attorney at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, which sued Lake County over development in 2020. “When you bring people to wildfire-prone areas you increase the wildfire risk,” he said. “We should not be building in these areas.”

The state attorney general’s office has criticized and delayed several development projects in recent years because of wildfire concerns. And low-density developments, like resorts, are “especially fire prone,” Broderick said.

Consistent wildfires have not resulted in less tourism during fire season, which happens to overlap with the popular wine harvest season. Wine lovers continue to seek out luxurious retreats tucked among vines and nature, despite nightly room rates that often exceed $1,000. These businesses are also a boon for the local economy — in 2018, Napa Valley visitors spent $476 million in lodging, according to an economic impact report. According to Visit Napa Valley President and CEO Linsey Gallagher, the region’s 2021 hotel revenue reached roughly 98% of 2019 levels. During fire season specifically, demand was down just 8% on average from 2019.

“We have been talking about it and thinking it would slow down” during fire season, said Patrick Nayrolles, Meadowood general manager. While the restaurant remains closed, Meadowood has reopened to guests and members at the resort. “People have been talking about September and October becoming like hurricane season in Florida, but we haven’t felt that impact.”

Arguably, all of these new properties are located in areas where wildfires could strike. In 2020, the Glass Fire unexpectedly jumped the highway and threatened urban areas of Napa Valley. The Montage, for instance, is in a moderate-severity zone, with high-severity areas within close proximity, according to Cal Fire’s Fire Hazard Severity Zones mapping tool.

“There’s no way to predict the way a natural disaster will unfold and the last few years have certainly taught us that,” said Jennifer Chiesa, the Montage’s director of public relations.

That’s why fire mitigation has been a top priority for the hotel, according to Chiesa. During the construction process, developers made landscaping adjustments, like replacing mulch with rocks around the buildings to reduce accelerants. They installed a pump station, which will provide extra water in case of a fire, and the resort has cleared vegetation extensively. As part of the original development agreement, the city of Healdsburg also committed to building a fire substation on the property, an area where task forces and strike teams can organize. This is set to be completed in 2023.

When asked about fire preparedness, representatives of Auberge Resorts, which operates Stanly Ranch and the Four Seasons, declined an interview with The Chronicle. Ed Gannon, general manager of Stanly Ranch, said in an email that Stanly Ranch “is uniquely positioned at the southern edge of Napa Valley in a low risk fire zone.” But Stanly Ranch sits in the wind-prone Carneros wine region where the Nuns Fire burned in 2017.

Meadowood has been busy removing dead trees and brush that could fuel future fires. It’s working with a herd of 1,200 sheep and goats that graze dry grasses and replanting fire-resistant tree species like oaks and coast redwoods. Paul Asmuth, a manager at Meadowood, credits the resort’s extensive clearing and pruning work in the spring of 2020 with saving the majority of the property when the Glass Fire struck.

The team plans to rebuild structures with noncombustible materials like hardy wood. This was used for Meadowood’s spa renovation in 2015 and seemingly proved effective in 2020. “The fire burned right up to the edge of the spa and stopped right where the building was,” said Asmuth, who believes Wine Country is now more experienced and thus better prepared to face future fires.

“There’s a lot more knowledge throughout the space and a lot more preparedness going on,” he said. “The county has made a great effort to have a very responsive team in the case of fires starting. We’ve seen it twice this year already.”

But Broderick argues there are other factors to consider, like the potential impacts of development on residents and other businesses. While these resorts were erected according to modern building codes and have the resources for extensive mitigation, their very existence increases the danger for higher-risk homes and structures in the area that were built 30 or 40 years ago, he said.

Evacuations are also a concern, as more visitors would increase traffic during evacuations. Many parts of Napa and Sonoma counties consist of two-lane roads. That said, no one was injured in previous Wine Country resort fires and guests were able to evacuate safely.

“When you have a limited amount of roadway capacity and increase the number of people in vehicles who need to use that roadway, you’re increasing exposure to injury and death,” Broderick said.

“That’s how people die in wildfires.”

Jess Lander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @jesslander