It was late on Sunday evening when Ray Signorello realized something was wrong. His wife Tanya, had spotted flames coming down the hillside towards their Napa Valley wine estate.
The first warning came at 10.45pm – less than an hour later, the winery building containing the family home was on fire and the Signorellos had fled.
By Monday morning, nothing was left of the colonnaded winery building but a blackened heap of rubble dotted with exploded glass bottles, while a formerly picturesque stretch of olive trees on the hill behind had been badly burned.
‘The fire was fueled by 50mph winds so there wasn’t much to stop it,’ Signorello, 54, told DailyMail.com.
Fast-moving fires spread by shifting winds forced thousands more Californians to evacuate their homes on Saturday. A local watches from his motorcycle as fires rage in California’s Napa Valley
The death toll from the deadliest blaze recorded in the state’s history rose to at least 40 on Saturday, with hundreds of people still missing
More than 100,000 people have been evacuated in Sonoma, Napa, Santa Rosa and Calistoga
Hollywood film director Francis Ford Coppola’s famed wineries are now in the path of the advancing flames
‘Fortunately we didn’t have anybody injured here – that’s the most important thing.’
The 40-year-old Signorello Estate, which produces between 5,000 and 6,000 cases of wine each year, is one of 16 wineries wrecked by the monster blazes that have ravaged northern California over the past week.
The wildfires, the deadliest in California history, have claimed 40 lives so far and have destroyed an estimated 5,700 properties – including 2,800 homes in Santa Rosa.
More than 100,000 people have been evacuated in Sonoma, Napa, Santa Rosa and Calistoga, entire neighborhoods have been leveled and 214,000 acres of land has been reduced to ash.
Alan Ramey, 25, and his sister, Claire Ramey, 27, are part of a family-run winery which buys some of its grapes from nearby vineyards. Property on their winery has been destroyed, though it’s too soon to tell just how bad the damage is because fires are still raging
In Napa County alone, the industry contributes $13bn to the local economy each year and $50bn to the national coffers
While wineries suffered property damage to buildings, the vineyards – the lifeblood of the industry – have largely been spared
According to the Napa Winegrowers Association, 46,000 locals work in the wine business while in the US as a whole, 303,000 people make their living from Napa Valley vintages
Among the most high-profile victims of the disaster has been the area’s wine-making industry, which in Napa County alone contributes $13bn to the local economy each year and $50bn to the national coffers.
According to the Napa Winegrowers Association, 46,000 locals work in the wine business while in the US as a whole, 303,000 people make their living from Napa Valley vintages.
Signorello had been traveling in Canada with his two daughters, aged two and six, on the night of the blaze while wife Tanya was evacuated from the family home above the winery at 11pm.
Estate workers, including chief winemaker Pierre Birebent, 57, had battled to save the property; even using a garden hose in a desperate attempt to try and put out the flames.
But by the time Signorello finally made it back to his home on Wednesday afternoon, little was left but a charred heap of rubble.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘I didn’t believe it in the beginning but then when I saw the pictures my employees had taken on their phones, I knew it wasn’t here anymore.
‘You prepare yourself to see that; obviously when you get here in person, it’s dramatic. But I’m always trying to find a brighter side to it all – it could have been a lot worse for us. A lot worse.’
Much of the damage is to the land immediately behind the winery; a rugged olive grove dotted with California palms – now little more than blackened stumps.
The 40 confirmed fatalities, including 22 in Sonoma County, already make it the deadliest fire event in California history
Some 100,000 people have been forced from their homes, including 3,000 evacuated on Saturday from the city of Santa Rosa, about 50 miles north of San Francisco
The fires have damaged or destroyed about 5,700 structures, reducing homes and businesses to ash
A statue of the Virgin Mary, left close to the trees by a Mexican worker, was almost miraculously spared, with the blaze circling round each side but leaving the artwork untouched.
The vines, the lifeblood of the business, were also spared, as was a cellar holding barrels filled the 2016 vintage and the tanks containing this year’s harvest.
According to Signorello, the cost of repairing the main building likely to run into the millions of dollars and will take a minimum of 12 months to complete.
Nearby wineries such as the vast William Hill estate were also affected by the wildfires but did not suffer the same level of damage.
Others wrecked by the monster blazes include the Nicholson’s Ranch winery in Sonoma, where some structures were left blackened and charred, and the Paras Vineyard on the flank of Mount Veeder.
At Paras, the home of owner Jim Paras was totally destroyed with the property still unreachable almost a week later because of the Nuns Fire raging around it.
Alan Ramey, 25, whose family wine cellar buys some of its grapes from Paras, told DailyMail.com: ‘The house on the property was burned down.
‘It’s totally gone and we aren’t sure when we will be able to get there because the fire is still burning so we don’t know the full extent of the damage yet.’
His sister Claire, 27, added: ‘Jim Paras planted it a number of years back. He used to have his own wine label. We only buy old vine merlot from him.
‘What we’ve found is the merlot grown up on that part of Mount Veeder is really particularly dark, dense and beautiful.
‘We hope it can be brought back into shape fairly quickly but it could be too soon to say.’
There were some glimmers of hope as winds weakened and firefighters made progress with blazes such as the Cascade Fire, about 80 miles northeast of Santa Rosa, which was nearly 10,000 acres and 87 percent contained on Saturday
Winds are expected to weaken overnight, which should help in fighting the fires but high temperatures and dry conditions that feed the fires will remain through the weekend. This Napa Valley vineyard’s prime grape-growing area was spared
Firefighters from states including Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada have joined crews from California to battle the blazes
Cal Fire had estimated the fires would be contained by October 20, though there is always a risk of resurgence if the winds pick up
Like Signorello, the Rameys say they are grateful no one lost their life at Paras or at the 10 other vineyards that supplies the Ramey Wine Cellar with its grapes.
The business, which produces between 30,000 and 40,000 cases of wine per year, employs 16 people – none of whom were harmed, although some had to evacuate their homes.
Claire said: ‘We’ve been very lucky in that none of their homes had forced evacuations. We’ve had a couple in advisory evacuation areas but they’re still safe and well.
‘We’ve been doing half days where everyone takes care of the business for the first four hours, then goes and takes care of their families.’
With the employees and suppliers at both wineries confirmed safe, the Rameys and Signorello are now most worried for future of the vines themselves.
Ninety per cent of the grape harvest in Sonoma and Napa Counties had already been picked when the fires ignited so smoke damage to the fruit has been minimal.
But the vines, which take up to eight years to become productive after being planted, remain cause for concern.
‘If [the damage] goes down to the rootstock, it can take about two years for your crop to recover so you’re going to miss about two years of wine,’ Alan told DailyMail.com.
‘If it burns a good portion of the wood but still leaves some intact, you can possibly lose your next vintage.’
Signorello, whose vines are aged between 28 and 38 years old, said: ‘The vines were spared. We’re relieved we have our vineyards here.
‘It’s OK for this building [the winery] – I can probably get it back up and running in two years. But the vineyards, you plant them and it takes eight years before you even get a crop.
More than 10,000 firefighters supported by air tankers and helicopters overhead (like the one seen above) were battling 16 major wildfires, some encompassing several smaller merged blazes, in areas north of San Francisco that have consumed nearly 214,000 acres
On the ground, prison inmates were helping firefighters – sometimes digging lines to help contain fires, other times preparing meals at command centres, always watched over by guard
‘Our vines are between 28 and 38 years old and that’s what makes them special – with new vines, you wouldn’t have that.
‘I’m 54 years old and I don’t have another 38 years to wait for those vines to get that old again.’
Head winemaker Birebent, who is originally from Corsica, France, added: ‘The vines are fine, they are not touched which is the most important thing. If we lose the vines, we lose the business for sure.’
Because the vines remain intact, Signorello says he will be able to keep running the production side of the business while the winery building is rebuilt.
‘As far as the business side goes, I can continue because I don’t have any interruption of product,’ Signorello told DailyMail.com.
‘We will rebuild the building, we will have temporary space for the team offsite down in Napa, a little satellite trailer office on the property for the wine-making team and we’ll come back.
‘I’m looking to the bright side. There’s lots of people here in Napa and elsewhere that lost their lives and their homes. That’s obviously very, very dire so we were lucky.’
He added: ‘If people want to help, they can support Signorello by drinking my wines. Not just ours – wine from Napa Valley, Sonoma and the outlying valleys.
‘We see four million people a year here in Napa Valley. We’ll get the fires out soon and then this place will be back to normal.
‘We need to see the people back and so please don’t be afraid to come back and see us in Napa Valley soon.’