September 1, 2026
Commentary by Ray Scippa, Napa Communities Firewise Foundation
For those who have lived in Napa County for many years, September and October carry memories that go well beyond harvest. They are also the months when some of the darkest chapters in our community’s history have been written.
In September 1964, the Hanly Fire swept through tens of thousands of acres around Mount St. Helena and across the Napa-Sonoma county line. More than half a century later, on the night of Oct. 8, 2017, the Tubbs Fire began near Calistoga. The Atlas and Nuns fires followed as a devastating firestorm spread across the North Bay.
Then came Sept. 27, 2020, when the Glass Fire ignited. Before it was contained in October, nearly 67,500 acres had burned across Napa and Sonoma counties, and more than 1,500 structures were destroyed.
Those dates deserve to be remembered — for the homes and livelihoods lost, for the people displaced and for the firefighters and first responders who confronted conditions that at times seemed almost impossible.
But these stories should also remind us why the work being done today matters.
We cannot change Napa’s seasonal weather. We cannot prevent the hot, dry conditions that leave vegetation increasingly vulnerable late in the year. We cannot eliminate Diablo winds. And when a wildfire is driven by powerful winds across dry terrain, there are limits to what even the best firefighters in the world can do.
What we can change is the landscape and the conditions firefighters encounter when that fire comes.
Across Napa County today, hazardous vegetation is being reduced, fuel breaks are being built and maintained, old fire roads are being reopened, evacuation routes are being improved, defensible space is being expanded and forests are being actively managed. Landowners, fire safe councils, Napa County, Cal Fire, Napa County Fire, Napa Firewise and many other partners are increasingly working from an integrated and aligned strategy.
Even more important, through the Napa Firewise Valley Stewards Initiative, firefighters are gaining better information about the landscape before they arrive: where usable roads are located, where water is available, where vegetation has been treated and where previous work may give them an opportunity to take a stand and slow or contain a fire.
None of this makes Napa fireproof.
A fuel break cannot guarantee that a wind-driven fire will stop. A cleared road cannot prevent an ember from traveling a mile ahead of a fire. Forest management cannot make Diablo winds disappear.
But these investments can give firefighters something extraordinarily valuable: options.
A maintained road provides access where none existed before. A treated ridgeline offers a safer place to make a stand. A cleared evacuation route helps residents get out while emergency equipment gets in. A mapped water source saves precious time. Defensible space gives firefighters a home they have a realistic chance of saving.
That is what better preparedness looks like.
As we enter September and October, we should stay vigilant and remember what Napa County has endured. Those experiences are part of our history and should never be minimized or forgotten. But our history does not have to dictate our future.
The threat of wildfire will remain. The winds will return. There will be another fire. Our responsibility is to press our advantage, continue to invest in new priorities identified by fire authorities and protect our progress by maintaining the investments we have already made.
We need to make sure that when the next wildfire comes, the people fighting it have every possible advantage we can give them.
And today, Napa County is doing far more to provide those advantages than it was a decade ago.
Commentary by Napa Communities Firewise Foundation’s Ray Scippa submitted to Napa Valley Register.