A winery contract worker told fire investigators that he put water on the ashes he discarded not long before the Pickett Fire broke out, according to the spokesman for the Calistoga winery at the center of the fire probe.
NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit was first to report that investigators suspected discarded ashes may be the cause of the Aug. 21 wine country fire.
That fire has since burned nearly 7,000 acres, but is now largely contained.
The unidentified contract worker, who had long been employed as a handyman for the previous owner, had just prepared a newly built outdoor fireplace for routine use.
To do that he set a small, “basketball sized” fire, said Sam Singer, spokesman for the LLC owned by Hundred Acre Wines vintners Jayson and Helen Woodbridge.
“He [the contract worker] told firefighters that he removed the ashes from the outdoor fireplace, put them in a bucket and poured water on them,” Singer said. “He believed the ashes had been extinguished.”
Singer acknowledged the fire broke out “relatively soon” after those ashes had been discarded on winery property. He noted the initial fire in the fireplace was intended to “temper” or cure the bricks for routine use. The outdoor fireplace had been fully permitted when work started in April, Singer said.
Shawn Zimmermaker, Cal Fire’s Northern Region deputy chief of law enforcement, confirmed discarded ashes as one potential cause that remains under investigation. He did not detail other possible causes.
Zimmermaker noted that treating ashes with water alone is considered insufficient to render any outdoor campfire site safe. Ashes should be checked to ensure they are cool to the touch and then buried to avoid restarting a fire.
Jaxon Van Derbeken
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