Gallo Winery affected by wine country fires; region sends fire crews

One E.&J. Gallo winery has been affected by the raging fires in California’s wine country.

The William Hill Estate Winery in Napa County sustained minor cosmetic damage and landscaping damage, according to a statement from Gallo.

In addition to the William Hill Estate Winery, Gallo operates The Ranch Winery and Louis M. Martini in Napa County, as well as Gallo of Sonoma, J Vineyards & Winery and Asti Winery in Sonoma County. As of Tuesday evening the other wineries had not been directly affected by fire.

“ ... Many of our employees and their families were forced to evacuate,” reads a statemene from Gallo. “Our top priority remains the health and safety of our employees, and members of the community. “

Gallo has wineries in Napa and Sonoma where, in addition to Mendocino County, some 25,000 people have been forced to flee from their homes and businesses to escape multiple fires that have burned 115,000 acres of land since the first fire sparked Sunday night.

A spokesman for Gallo cited a Sonoma County Winegrowers statistic that about 90 percent of the wine grape harvest there was picked before the fires began.

Due to the fires and restricted access, there has been no assessment made on the status of the remaining 10 percent of the crop, the spokesman said.

Stanislaus County firefighters have been deployed on California Office of Emergency Services engines and brush rigs to one of the largest fires burning in the region. The Tubbs Fire, or LNU Complex, has burned 27,000 acres in Napa County.

Local firefighters also have been deployed to wildfires in Butte and Nevada counties, said Deputy Fire Warden Erik Klevmyr.

Thirty-one firefighters from Modesto, Hughson, Turlock and Patterson fire departments and the Stanislaus Consolidated and Burbank Paradise fire districts represent teams on four engines and three brush rigs along with other personnel at the three fires, Klevmyer said.

Also American Medical Response units from Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties were en route to Sonoma County on Tuesday to assist with evacuating skilled nursing facility patients to facilitates in Sacramento and San Joaquin counties.

This story was originally published October 10, 2017 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Gallo Winery affected by wine country fires; region sends fire crews."