“Wildfire!”
At Father’s shout as he ran down the vineyard hill, the workers who had been at work started in alarm.
“Everyone, move!”
The workers, who had been trained on what to do in the event of a wildfire, all scattered and ran to the farm’s boundary line. A firebreak had already been made, but they needed to quickly clear away any loose vines or branches by hand.
Since we had extended the firebreak with a tractor all the way to the nearby road, there was now a space of about four to five meters from the farm to the brush at the foot of the mountain. Even so, I couldn’t take my eyes off the red glow in the distance that seemed to be drawing a little closer.
“It’s a wildfire, right? Should we turn on the sprinklers or something?”
Armando, who had run up at some point, asked. I shook my head.
“Not yet... The sprinklers are a last resort. We need to see if it’s really coming this way.”
The moment we activated the sprinklers, the moisture stress management we had maintained until now could collapse. If that happened, not only this year’s table grapes but even the wine quality could be affected.
We had to wait as long as possible, and only when we were certain the flames would engulf the farm should we turn on the sprinklers to save the farm rather than the quality of the grapes.
“That’s true. But... that’s northwest, isn’t it? Silver Oak is in between, too... If we’re lucky, it might not reach your farm. Maybe you don’t have to worry too much?”
Northwest of Napa lay the vast expanse of Sonoma County. And since Russian River Valley was part of it, I desperately hoped nothing would happen there.
“You never know. How long do you think it’ll take to get here?”
“Wildfires this time of year move fast. If it’s quick, five or six hours? If slow, maybe around ten?”
“...Tonight’s going to be a long one.”
I could feel sweat beading on the hand gripping the tree.
---
At that time, Silver Oak Farm.
“Wildfire! It’s a wildfire!”
Elowen Pike, who had been about to leisurely have dinner, met his family’s eyes. Then he sprang up as if he’d been bounced out of his seat, ran outside, and turned his head in the direction the worker was pointing. A red glow was clearly surging up over the distant ridge.
“Damn it...!”
Thousands of wildfires occurred in California every year, so people did not panic at the word alone. But that did not mean he could remain unafraid once it was visible to his own eyes.
Ilaina, who had hurried out after him in alarm, was the same. Her face turned pale at the red glow in the distance. And the words of the Asian boy she had met at school echoed in her head.
‘Be careful. With weather this dry, there could be a wildfire.’
Remembering herself laughing those words off, she bit her lip until it stung.
Elowen shouted urgently.
“Call all the workers! We need to make a firebreak first! Ask the cooperative for help and borrow a tractor right now!”
“Yes, sir.”
But before long, a despairing answer came back.
“Boss, I checked, but all the tractors have already been rented out! The other farms have taken them all!”
“Damn it...!”
He hurriedly called heavy equipment rental shops. But it was the same there; the only answer he got was that they had no equipment left. A wildfire was not like a building fire, starting in one place and staying there. It spread from the initial point of ignition, so there was bound to be a difference in response time.
“Haa...”
Everything went dark before his eyes. A firebreak absolutely required machinery. Even if they dug up the soil and cleared the weeds with their bare hands, there was bound to be a clear difference compared to using machines. But they couldn’t just sit still.
“Bring shovels and axes! We have to do something! We just need to buy time until firefighting support arrives!”
A short while later, nearly thirty workers came swarming over with old shovels and axes. Elowen himself gripped an axe in his hand.
“I’ll pay triple today’s wages, so let’s give it everything we’ve got!”
At the words triple wages, the workers all tightened their grips on their tools and steeled their resolve. From that moment, Elowen and the workers all spread out along the farm boundary in the direction the flames were coming from and began making a firebreak.
“You go fetch water for the workers. You’ll get hurt!”
When Ilaina tried to join in and help, Elowen shouted at her. Upset, Ilaina hurried off to carry water and snacks for the workers. The flames were still far away, but their hearts were nothing but urgent.
And so the people cut down dry grass and dug up the ground.
One hour, two hours... Time passed quickly, and before they knew it, seven hours had gone by. Elowen, swinging an axe with bandages wrapped around his torn hands, could smell the acrid odor.
“Just a little more! Keep going!”
Watching her father shouting from afar, Ilaina stamped her feet in anxiety. That was because she could now clearly see the flames approaching from the distance.
“Dad! Pull back now!”
“No! We still have time! What about CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection)?”
“They said they’re fighting it at the scene!”
“Damn it...”
Just then, a plane passed overhead and dropped water toward the wildfire approaching from the distance. The sight of an enormous water bomb stretching out and covering the mountain range could only be called spectacular.
“Huh?”
For a moment, it seemed fortunate, as though the wildfire might be put out. But soon, only the area hit by the water bomb died down, while the rest continued to blaze. Even so, Elowen raised his axe and shouted.
“You all saw that, right? CAL FIRE sent a firefighting plane to support us! We can win this!”
Thus encouraged by Elowen, the workers continued swinging axes and digging earth. But the flames were far too fast, and before long, the crimson blaze began to appear clearly in the distance. Barely two hundred meters remained until it reached the farm.
A searing heat washed over their faces, and each time the shovels scraped away soil, red embers flew in on a wind that screamed as if tearing at their ears, landing on the surrounding blades of grass. With soft whooshes, small flames sprang up, and the workers stumbled about trying to stomp them out.
“No! Faster! Support that side! Widen the gap!”
Elowen’s voice cracked. But human strength was not enough. The flames came rushing like a monster.
“Damn it... damn it!”
“We have to evacuate!”
As the flames now seemed almost upon them, the workers’ faces filled with fear. Some were already backing away with their tools in hand.
Elowen squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. The corners of his eyes grew hot and wet. But he had to decide.
“...All right. Everyone, fall back!”
In the end, the workers began running without looking back, and about ten minutes later, the flames flickered through an area where the firebreak had not been completed, finally reaching the edge of the farm.
As if making one last desperate struggle, Elowen turned on the sprinklers. With a creaking sound, streams of water burst from the metal pipes and sprayed over the vineyard. But before the flames, it was nowhere near enough. The water seemed to evaporate in the heat before it could even reach them.
Ilaina covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
“My farm... our farm...”
The red flames mercilessly swallowed the edge of the vineyard. The grapevine trunks that had been growing so well charred black in an instant, and the flames spread to the neighboring block in the blink of an eye. With sharp cracking sounds, the grapes burst and flowed down. The smell was sweet, yet at the same time, it was the terrible smell of death.
Having taken shelter below the farm, Elowen and Ilaina watched the vineyard burn with vacant faces. Pillars of pitch-black smoke surged into the sky, and the red light flickered like a sea of hellfire.
Ilaina, clutching her face, spoke in a trembling voice.
“Dad... is it over now?”
Elowen could not answer. His lips moved, but no voice came out. The sight before his eyes was far too clear. He had failed to make even a proper firebreak. The guilt of failing to fulfill his responsibility as owner weighed heavily on his shoulders.
The roar of the flames in the distance sounded like mockery. But he shook his head heavily.
“Not yet... not yet.”
No matter how enormous a wildfire might be, a grape farm was originally so rich in moisture that it could serve as a massive firebreak in itself. Sure enough, the flames that had rushed in as if to devour the farm boundary could no longer expand beyond a certain point.
But the damage already done was too great.
“Let’s go. We have insurance, so it’s not so bad that we won’t be able to recover.”
Elowen, stroking his daughter’s shoulder as they walked away, embraced his wife, who had been waiting for him in tears, and watched with complicated eyes as the flames slowly died down.
---
Staring closely at the flames drawing nearer little by little in the distance, I shouted to Dad.
“The flames have weakened a lot!”
“Then the sprinklers...?”
“Not yet. Not yet...”
At that moment, another firefighting plane flew overhead, and immediately afterward, a water bomb fell. The flames, which had already been losing strength little by little, seemed to shrink back once more.
After flinging a bucket of water outside the firebreak, Dad said with a somewhat relieved expression,
“Looks like it’s getting under control. That’s Silver Oak Farm over there, right? Is it because of that?”
“Probably... Anyway, I hope it ends like this. Please check if any embers have fallen on the farm.”
Even if the flames had begun to die down, there was no telling when the wind might revive them again, so we couldn’t let our guard down.
After watching for about an hour, the flames gradually approached until they reached the farm boundary, but thanks to the wide firebreak we had made, they could not cross the line. Then, after several more water bombs, the wildfire finally lost its initial force and its red glow faded.
“It’s over.”
Armando patted my shoulder and gave me a look that said I’d done well.
“Fortunately... we were lucky. Even though we made a firebreak, if the flames hadn’t weakened in front of us, it could’ve been bad.”
After saying that, I spoke to Dad, who had just come up.
“The grapes along the farm boundary need to be washed.”
“They do?”
“They were exposed to smoke, so if we leave them like this, they’ll develop a smoky aroma. There’ll be some issues with quality, but it can’t be helped.”
“Phew, can’t be helped. Ah, and I called Hart Farm in Russian River Valley. Thankfully, they said there was no damage at all to the farm.”
“Really? That’s a relief.”
“Yes. They said it started north of Geyserville, but they were worried about us instead.”
“Okay. Let’s go check tomorrow.”
I began washing the smoke-exposed grapes with the workers, and not long after, I watched the Napa fire department’s wildfire response team completely wrap up the scene.
Then, suddenly thinking of something, I went to find the fire commander and asked,
“Was there a lot of damage from this wildfire?”
“It wasn’t terribly severe, but from what I know, quite a few grape farms suffered at least some damage. Your farm had an excellent firebreak, so there wasn’t much damage. Ah, and Silver Oak Farm up there lost a quarter of its land.”
“Oh dear... tsk, tsk...”
After clicking my tongue, I looked toward the direction of Silver Oak Farm and muttered,
“It’s unfortunate, but... that’s farming for you.”