Pickett Fire still burning; evacuation orders remain in place
Pickett Fire consumes more than 3,000 acres
The Pickett Fire in Calistoga was about 3,235 acres and 7% contained as of Friday evening.
CALISTOGA, Calif. - The Pickett Fire in Calistoga doubled in size and, as of Saturday morning, was about 4,000 acres and 7% contained, CalFire officials announced.
Division Chief Ryan Isham said there were more than 350 total personnel who had been working overnight to contain the flames in Napa County.
The fire is burning in the opposite direction from Calistoga, officials said, and so that city is not at risk. But the firefighting area is extremely rugged terrain, making it difficult for crews to get a handle on containing the blaze, officials said.
"Our ground crew was able to get indirect dozer lines around most of the area and that will continue this afternoon," said CalFire Battalion Chief Matt Ryan. "We are looking for opportunities of success to go directly on the fire as much as we can with the weather conditions."
The fire was first reported on Thursday at about 3:30 p.m. near the 2300 block of Pickett Road.
The Napa Office of Emergency Services ordered evacuations for the areas North of Silverado Trail, South of Pickett Road, East of Rosedale Road, West of Pickett Road, North of Pickett Road and Silverado Trail, South Old Lawley Toll and Victoria, East of Palisades, West of Dutch Henry.
These evacuations were still in place on Friday morning, though fortunately, no structures have been destroyed to date.
The Pickett Fire is raging within the burn scar of the 2020 Glass Fire, which means there is less fuel in the area. Some of the firefighting dozer lines put down five years ago can be re-used, and officials said there had been vegetation management in the area.
It's also near the property of well-known winemaker Jayson Woodbridge and Hundred Acre wines, and Fleming Vineyards.
Through spokesman Sam Singer, Woodbridge said that he was out with hoses on Thursday and stood guard all night.
Luckily, he said, there was no damage to his winery or his house.
"No idea how the fire started except it was 105° yesterday and blowing about 15-20 mph," Woodbridge texted Singer.
Just behind Patrick Flynn's home, several helicopters drew water from a water recycling facility which has unlimited supplies of this partially treated water.
"With all these helicopters, it's kind of cool to watch now that I know my house is safe and everything. It's kind of cool to sit and watch them and like, man, these are really cool. I haven't seen one of those hoses in a while like before. So that's like really cool to see now," Flynn said on Thursday.
The county opened an evacuation center at the Calistoga Community Center, located at 1307 Washington Street. Later in the evening, officials closed that community center and directed any evacuees needing overnight shelter to go to Crosswalk Community Church at 2590 1st Street in Napa.