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Wildfire hits Ramona Valley
On Sunday, 22 October 2007 a Santa Ana-driven wildfire drove through the Ramona Valley, threatening every home, vineyard and winery in our area. Every Ramona-based member of the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association was under a mandatory evacuation order that lasted for four and a half days. Those of us who left on Sunday night during the wind and fire storm found ourselves in an immediate two to three hour traffic jam tryng to leave town through the one two-lane open road. All other routes out were blocked by fire, and fire could be seen racing within a mile or two of the line of parked cars.
At the end of the storm, there have been no reports of fire-caused injuries to any Ramona residents. While hundreds of homes were lost in the Ramona Valley, we have learned of only one of the 90 RVVA members losing his house. Several members have lost barns and outbuildings, and many more have had native vegetation cleared down to the dirt and rocks, care of what is reported to be an SDG&E power line succumbing to the high winds. No reports of burned vineyards or wineries have been confirmed; in fact some vineyards have been credited with acting as a buffer and saving the adjacent houses.
Many RVVA members and our neighbors defied the evacuation order and stayed behind to fight the fire when they evaluated the circumstances and resources available to their individual properties. There is no doubt that these efforts were not in vain, and those of us who were compelled to evacuate appreciate the individual efforts that saved our homes.
Carolyn Harris
carolyn@chuparosavineyards.com
_____________________________________________________________At the end of the storm, there have been no reports of fire-caused injuries to any Ramona residents. While hundreds of homes were lost in the Ramona Valley, we have learned of only one of the 90 RVVA members losing his house. Several members have lost barns and outbuildings, and many more have had native vegetation cleared down to the dirt and rocks, care of what is reported to be an SDG&E power line succumbing to the high winds. No reports of burned vineyards or wineries have been confirmed; in fact some vineyards have been credited with acting as a buffer and saving the adjacent houses.
Many RVVA members and our neighbors defied the evacuation order and stayed behind to fight the fire when they evaluated the circumstances and resources available to their individual properties. There is no doubt that these efforts were not in vain, and those of us who were compelled to evacuate appreciate the individual efforts that saved our homes.
Carolyn Harris
carolyn@chuparosavineyards.com
31 October 2007 - It appears that power will continue to be out for another week or two in the Highland Valley and Highway 78 areas. Therefore, several members of the RVVA are in need of generators - particularly to pump their wells and refill their holding tanks.
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Members are invited to post their stories and impressions of the fire below as a record of what we have experienced. Suggestions about what was done right in terms of preparing for, and handling the fire are encouraged. What would you do differently in the future? What would you not hesitate to do again?
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October 31, 2007
S. ELAINE LYTTLETON & NORMAN A. CASE
On Sunday October 22, 2007 Norm and I awoke to fierce Santa Ana
winds. At about 2:00 p.m. we lost power, and observed a huge smoke
column rising to the east. At 4:00 p.m. an Anza-Borrego State Park
Ranger drove into our area and informed us of a voluntary evacuation
advisory because of an approaching wild fire. At 4:30 p.m. the same
Ranger returned with a mandatory evacuation order.
Norm is a retired firefighter, with more than 30 years experience and
he immediately decided that he was not going to leave, but would stay
to protect our "ass"ets. He had several very good reasons to be
confident in our safety, so I stayed with him, though I did hook up
my little Teardrop travel trailer to my truck, and put important
items in it, in case I had to make a dash for safety. We moved both
my and Norm's truck away from structures and trees.
When we bought this 5.75 acres in Ramona with the intent to live
here, plant a vineyard and establish a small winery, the only
insurance company we could find who would insure us was Farmers
Insurance. The company with whom I'd had all my insurance with for
nearly 30 years, with whom I'd never had a claim, would not insure
property in the fire prone areas of Ramona and Julian. Gene Forsyth,
a personal friend for many years, who is also a Farmers Insurance
Agent arranged for our insurance coverage, with the following
requisite: CLEAR ALL BRUSH FROM WITHIN 200 FEET OF ALL STRUCTURES,
INCLUDING YOUR NEIGHBORS PROPERTY IF NECESSARY.
Soon after we moved in July of 2006, we enlisted the help of a friend
who is a land use planner to track down the owner of the property
east of us (80 acres with cows grazing). We proceeded to clear brush
on our own property and with their permission, also cleared some of
theirs. As we continued to prepare the land for planting a vineyard,
much more brush was cleared, resulting in a pile in the middle of the
field about 100 feet long by 50 feet wide and 20 feet tall. We then
hired Antonio and his men with two chippers to reduce the brush pile
to a large heap of mulch.
We then constructed a 24 foot tower and placed a 500 gallon water
tank on top of it as the basis for a gravity-feed irrigation system
for the vineyard. Little did we know at the time that when the power
goes out rendering the well pump useless, that 400 of the 500 gallons
would be crucial to being able to put out small spot fires as they
start! Norm joined all the garden hoses together and hooked them up
to the tower tap. He also pulled out two shovels from the shed. We
were ready.
We dialed the portable radio to KOGO 600 AM radio which had excellent
24 hour a day coverage and information and watched the ensuing fire
storm from our front porch. As Sunday October 21st turned into
Monday October 22nd, we continued to watch the progress of the fire.
It raced from east to west down Highway 78 to the north of us and
down Old Julian Highway to the south. About 2:00 a.m. it had gone
by, and we thought we had dodged the bullet. Norm went to lie down,
with his clothes and boots on, and I sat up to keep watch. About 45
minutes later I woke Norm up because of a red glow approaching from
the east again.
The fire had doubled back and was racing up the canyon to the south
of us. We proceeded, with our shovels to patrol both our south and
east property lines, and the area behind a neighbor's house. All the
neighbors had evacuated except us. About 3:30 a.m. the fire turned
up another canyon to the east of us, and the winds, now gusting to
about 80 mph, were pushing ash, smoke, embers and burning brush
toward and over us.
While Norm manned the hose on the east side of the house, I ran
around with the shovel, dousing small flare-ups around the rest of
the area in the vicinity of the house and shed. Strictly speaking,
we don't think any fired would have started that would have
threatened our structures, since there was no brush nearby, but we
weren't taking any chances, and we also operate under an old saying
that Elaine has, that, "Action cures fear". After about 45 minutes
of intense action, and at 5:15 a.m. we determine it might be safe
enough to sleep for awhile.
As daylight dawned, our neighborhood looked pretty good. Only one
house was lost, a manufactured home at the end of Elizabeth Lane near
the canyon and brush. Another house was threatened – the one
with "habitat" all around it, but the fire department saved it. That
was only time we saw fire crews in this area by the way. We drove
into town, passing incredible destruction and losses of homes, cars,
barns and equipment.
The only place open to get coffee (our priority) was the Stars gas
station that had stayed open all night. The only other store we
could see that was open in town was Albertson's. We went in and
talked to the manager, Bill. He lives in Escondido and had fought
his way back up to Ramona while the town was being evacuated, and
with two other staff people had kept the store open all night. He
had evacuees in the parking lot and let them use the restrooms and
gave them water. During the night, he'd fed 140 firefighters,
cleaning out his deli counter and bakery. Since we had no power, we
asked him if we could box up and bring our frozen food into his walk-
in freezer, and he enthusiastically said, "Absolutely!"
We returned home to walk our property and found that the only fire-
related damage was a section of the plastic rail fence that had
melted from the radiant heat – not from flames since Norm had cleared
the brush from the area of the fence line too. We sustained much
more wind damage:
- carport tarps were shredded,
- the steel frames for the carports were bent beyond redemption,
- the shingles were torn from the roof of the shed,
- the three compost bins were disassembled,
- the grow tubes protecting the grapes vines were blown off and the vines were beaten on the ground by the winds,
- a front section of fence was blown down,
- and debris littered the west fence line where the wind had pushed it
Over the next several days, still without power, and rationing the
remaining 100 gallons of water in the tower tank, we proceeded with
repairs. The back melted sections of fence are not replaced, and the
remaining carport has no tarp on it, but the shed roof and front
fence are fixed. The shredded tarps and bent frame of one carport
are loaded in Norm's truck to take to the dump and the compost bins
are reassembled. After taking the tractor around the neighborhood,
traveling about a quarter mile west, we were able to round up all the
grow tubes, and put them back on the vines and tied them all up
securely.
The navy came by and gave us two cases of bottled drinking water,
which was the first time it really hit me that we were indeed
disaster victims.
SDG&E estimates we will not get power restored until about November
9th. Our friend Anthony brought us a generator. We have to move it
down to the well pump to get it to operate the pump to refill the
water tank. Then we move it back up to the house to run for awhile
so we can get hot water for a quick shower (and to watch Dancing with
the Stars)! The first time we got the tank refilled, we immediately
watered the grape vines, and the young landscape trees.
Saturday also brought my daughter Tammy up the hill with McDonalds
burgers, fries and chocolate milk shakes! What a gal. No
restaurants or fast food places had been open in town, since while
they had power, the water was unusable. I washed a week's worth of
dishes by hand, baked potatoes in the smoldering mulch pile, and
cooked steaks on the camp stove. We have lots of candles, and I'm
still a long way from running out of wine.
The camp stove set up on the front porch and there are four ice
chests in the dining room. The house is filthy, full of dust and ash
that the wind forced through the edges of the double paned windows.
There is no hope of cleanliness until SDG&E restores the power
though. I plan to head to my daughters in Oceanside later this week
to do laundry.
So, while all of the neighbors have had to throw away freezers full
of food, and some are still in hotels down the hill, or have to
rebuild their homes and their lives, we are just camping out and
pretty much doing for ourselves. And alas, we have no claim to file
with Farmers Insurance.
P.S. The grapevines are having a growth spurt with many new leaves
appearing!
Elaine Lyttleton
cdnwinesel@aol.com
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30 October 2007 - Wine Spectator Online
San Diego County Wildfires Affect Area Wineries
Homes, vineyards and wineries were all in the fires' paths, though damage has yet to be fully assessed
Lynn Alley
Posted: Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Southern California wildfires, which have now burned more than 200,000 acres of land and homes in several areas around San Diego, have also caused damage to the area's modest wine industry. At least one winery narrowly escaped disaster, while the home of one winery owner was destroyed. Reports on the status of other wineries remain slow to surface as the rest of the county cleans up and continues to contend with the remaining fires.
"Some of the anecdotal information that is being passed by word of mouth has yet to be confirmed," said Carolyn Harris, director of the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association, an area about 36 miles northeast of San Diego. "We've all been spending the last few days cleaning up our properties and trying to get back into communication with each other to determine for a fact the extent of the damage to the properties."
Orfila Vineyards and Winery, one of San Diego County's largest and most well-known wineries, located about 30 miles northeast of downtown San Diego, narrowly escaped destruction when the wildfires burned their way around three sides of the winery. Several vines, homes and farms nearby were destroyed, but the fires stopped short at the winery's newly paved asphalt driveway.
"It's a miracle," said Leon Santoro, the winery's general manager and winemaker. "The fires burned all around us, melted irrigation lines and poles, but only damaged 200 vines." The winery has about 40 acres of Syrah, Merlot, Sangiovese, Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne.
The winery did suffer some collateral damage when signs were blown over by the high winds that fanned the flames. A mobile home on the property was destroyed by the fire and the winery and grounds were covered with a thick coating of soot. Nearly all the wineries and their employees were evacuated safely. Santoro said he was concerned that if the power went out that it could affect the fermentations he had underway that were to be kept cool, as he'd just recently harvested his grapes. But upon returning to the winery he found that the power had remained on.
Unfortunately, others weren't so lucky. Wine Spectator was able to confirm that the home of Sam Dawson, owner of the Samuel Givens winery, in Dulzura, Calif., was destroyed by the fires.
http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,4093,00.html
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