January 28, 2025 • 33 mins
In episode thirty of the Napa Valley Insider Podcast, Andrew sits down with Erick Hernandez, Deputy Fire Marshal for Napa County Fire Department. Erick shares his inspiring journey to Napa Valley, his passion for public safety, and the evolving strategies to protect the community from devastating wildfires.
Episode Highlights:
- A Firefighter’s Journey: Learn how Erick’s life experiences and mentorship shaped his path to becoming a leader in Napa County’s fire prevention efforts.
- Preparedness Matters: Discover the essential steps Napa County residents can take to safeguard their homes and families, from creating defensible space to building a go-bag.
- Wildfire Science: Erick explains why today’s wildfires burn hotter, faster, and longer, and the critical importance of fuel reduction projects in mitigating fire risks.
- Mutual Aid in Action: Hear about Napa’s role in supporting Southern California during recent fires and how collaboration is key in combating state-wide emergencies.
- Community First: Erick discusses outreach programs to educate and assist at-risk populations, ensuring everyone can better prepare for wildfire season.
Support Napa County Fire Department’s efforts and learn more about fire safety by visiting their Instagram or contacting Erick Hernandez directly.
This episode is brought to you by Cuvée, your go-to for Napa Valley experiences. Follow Napa Valley Insider Podcast and Cuvée on Instagram for updates and behind-the-scenes content. Don’t forget to subscribe for more inspiring stories from the people shaping Napa Valley’s future!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is the Napa Valley Insider podcast brought to you by Kuvei, the Napa Winery Guide in
(00:07):
partnership with Highway 29 Media.
All right, all right, all right.
Welcome back to another episode of Napa Valley Insider.
I'm Andrew Allison.
I am the CEO of Kuvei.
We make the Napa Winery Guide app.
I make this podcast in partnership with Highway 29 Media.
I'm so excited to introduce today's guest, some of the local heroes.
(00:32):
Who are you and what do you do?
Sure.
First of all, thank you so much for giving us an opportunity to be here today.
My name is Eric Hernandez.
I'm the Deputy Fire Marshal for Napa County Fire Department.
And you just came back from somewhere.
Where'd you come back from?
Yeah, so about two weeks ago, I was deployed down to the Eden Fire down in LA, in the
(00:54):
Alta Dina area.
And from Napa County or the greater Napa area, how many resources did Napa send to
SoCal to help fight these fires?
So I want to say we sent two strike teams.
So a strike team consists of five engines with the crew each, and then also a strike
(01:16):
team leader.
So essentially, it's like a supervisor that oversees those five engines and the crews.
So we sent two of those.
We also sent a volunteer engine that is part of another strike team with two engines from
Fairfield, one from St. Helena City and one from Calistoga.
Then we send overhead personnel.
(01:37):
So we have one of our division chiefs, Chief Brian Ham, and myself.
I went down as overhead as well.
And we also sent additional personnel as overhead.
So I want to say in total, probably about 40 to 60 people.
(01:57):
Then we also sent additional staff to preposition.
So in case we had new fires, we had additional staff ready to be deployed to new fires.
Wow, that's incredible.
And so before we dive into the current events, what is your origin story?
And how did you make your way into the fire service here in Napa County?
(02:23):
So I was born in Guatemala in a small little village.
And when I was four, we immigrated to LA.
And I was in LA until I was 14.
So essentially 15 minutes away from Altadena.
So I went to the elementary middle school in LA.
(02:44):
Even when I was 14 during that summer before I started high school, we decided to come
up north and we ended up in Deer Park.
Wow, St. Helena.
St. Helena, correct.
So I went to St. Helena High School, graduated from there in Class of 03.
03?
03.
Okay, you just have literally just a few years ahead of me.
(03:05):
But that's so funny.
The last couple of guests went to St. Helena High too.
They're all in the wine industry, of course.
But St. Helena High has produced some amazing Napa Valley talent.
Yeah, no, I was blessed to.
The current principal from St. Helena High School, Mr. Sinto, he was one of my teachers
(03:27):
back in the day.
And I love that guy.
He did a lot for me from just a mentorship.
So I have a lot of gratitude for him, a lot of respect for him.
So how did you make your way into the fire service?
So just like everybody else started washing dishes, started working their tailor's automatic
(03:51):
refresher when it used to be tailor's.
Now gots for those that.
Now gots, correct.
Then I did just physical labor jobs.
And it wasn't until 2012 when there was a case in St. Helena.
(04:17):
So it was a housing issue.
And I was assisting and translating.
So a greater Napa Fair Housing was looking for someone to assist and to case work.
And so that was essentially my first desk job.
So they were like, hey, you know, you're bilingual, you do a good job.
Would you like to work for us?
(04:38):
So that's how you got involved with codes and getting into that.
So then from there, I met someone.
He basically said, you know, you should come and work for the city Napa Fire Department
City Napa as a code enforcement officer.
So I applied, I got the job about a year and a half later.
I learned that they were looking for a fire inspector.
(05:00):
So I went through the fire marshal track and I got into the Napa City Fire Marshal's
office as a fire inspector.
Five years later, I came over to the county and as of, you know, 2019 I've been with the
county, worked my way from, started as a fire inspector.
(05:20):
One, two, and then last year I was promoted to deputy fire marshal.
And so for those that might not be familiar.
What were the really bad fire years in the recent years in Napa County?
Well, so we've always had fires, but the worst I want to say was back in 2017 at the same
(05:40):
time where we had the Tubbs fire started in Calistoga then worked its way down in Coffee
Park in Santa Rosa.
At the same time, simultaneously, we had the Atlas fire in Atlas Peak Road in that neighborhood.
We then had the Patrick fire and the Nuns fire happening at the same time.
(06:01):
So we essentially had four fires happening at the same time.
So in that really stretch Napa's resources, right?
Absolutely.
So when that happens, so because it's considered SRA state responsibility area, Cal Fire basically
caused an incident management team to come in and assist and basically manage the incident.
So you exhaust all the local resources, but you still have to keep a level of service
(06:26):
for your general traffic collisions, medical calls, structure fires, anything.
So incident management team was deployed.
That was back in 2017.
Fast forward to 2020, we had the LED lighting complex and the Hennessy fire and then it
just grew and then it became a complex.
(06:49):
For those that don't know the vernacular, the lexicon, what is the difference between
a fire and a complex?
So a complex essentially it means that you have multiple fires within the unit and within
the Cal Fire unit.
And so you have just to put it in context, the Cal Fire Sonoma Lake Napa unit that basically
(07:10):
oversees us consists of six counties.
So it's Yolo, Colusa, Solano, Lake County, Sonoma and Napa County.
And so that's in the state's responsibility area.
But also Napa County has a contract with Cal Fire Sonoma Lake Napa unit to oversee, you
(07:31):
know, like here, like the outbill.
That's not necessarily state responsibility area because it's not out in the mountains,
but there is a contract.
And so it's seven stations in Napa County and then nine volunteer stations in Napa County.
Wow.
I had no idea that we had so many resources, but even having experienced those fires as
(07:57):
a resident, I knew we brought in resources from other places.
So before we even talk about the current events of LA, how many resources did Napa bring in
in those years, those big fire years?
Wow, a lot.
It's hard to say because in 2020, the lightning complex, we had multiple fires.
(08:19):
So I don't know the number of engines.
What I can tell you though is it was over 200,000 acres that were impacted.
And a month later, we had the glass wire, which was in dear part.
It just felt like the never ending fire season.
Absolutely.
And actually, what made it difficult is not only was Napa County on fire, but also down
(08:43):
in Santa Cruz, they also had fires going.
So what ended up happening is Northern California was hit with a dry lightning.
And so you had multiple fires going on at the same time.
We had resources that were assigned to fire for 72 hours without getting any relief.
(09:04):
And typically during a fire, you'll work 24 hours on and 24 hours off.
But in this case, because the state was stretched off.
So there's no option.
There's no option.
You just continue going and hope that you get relief anytime soon.
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(09:24):
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Link in the show notes.
Your experience here in Napa must have been really valuable as you've built over these
(09:51):
incidents or devastating events to build this resume.
When LA happened or still is happening.
What did you think of when you thought of what Napa could bring to LA from its experience
bank?
Yeah.
So the first thing is the mutual aid.
(10:13):
California is known for its mutual aid program, which means one phone call to the office of
emergency services.
Automatically, you put an order in of how many resources you think you need and the state
starts working in this fashion.
Starts pooling resources.
Correct.
So when I was just trying to get back into work mode because I was in Mexico for three
(10:38):
weeks on vacation, I'm thinking, okay, let's start the year and boom, here we go.
LA gets hit with a fire, which was astonishing because we know that fire season is year long.
It's no longer six months.
Yeah, it shouldn't be happening in January.
It's now 12 months.
Exactly.
So, but in the area, you have the Palisades fire going on and then a couple hours later,
(10:58):
you have the Eaton fire on the Alta Dina.
And that's an area in my heart because I grew up 10, 15 minutes away from there.
So I place a call.
I'm available.
What do you need?
And so luckily, the same team that was in center management team that was deployed to
the Eaton fire was actually here back in 2020, managing the glass fire.
(11:21):
Wow.
So they already knew who I was and they said, you know what, get on the road.
Let's go.
I'll be right over you and just get on the road.
So you know, at that end is all hands on deck.
You know, we're continuing the mission of providing a service and getting our community
members safe.
And at that point, it's not really about what type of patch you're wearing or, you know,
(11:47):
what the fire department you're representing.
It's about providing a service to the two, to our community members of the state of California.
And if, you know, we have to outside of that.
So at that point, that's our main objective.
And can I just ask how has your ability to speak multiple languages supported you in
(12:10):
incidents like this?
You know, it's funny you say that because when I went down, I was, I went down to LA
as overhead.
So you know, public information officer, deal with the media, go into shelters.
This was the first time that I actually went to a shelter to as a PA, a public information
officer.
(12:32):
What made this one a little bit different was because of the area of the fire, you have
a strong Spanish speaking community.
So they said, you know, we're doing the operational videos, operational briefings, where we talk
about the fire behavior, we talk about, you know, the operations, how many resources,
how many acres, all those numbers.
(12:52):
Then they do a second video every morning, it is your weather update.
So same thing, just talk about the weather, wind conditions, you know, what's, what's
ahead red flag and Southern California, they have something called a particular dangerous
situation.
So it's essentially, it's going to be really bad.
Then the third one, a third video was your fire behavior, where you talk about how the
(13:16):
wind conditions may or may not affect the fire and the perimeter and just, you know,
just a general summary.
So they asked me, you know, you're very good about translating.
We want you to start translating, doing those videos in Spanish.
So I said, you know what, whatever you guys need, let me know and I'll do it.
(13:39):
So they said, yeah, we want you to do them.
So same thing.
You have a...
You just duplicated the content again.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, that's amazing.
You're just getting the word out.
Let's dive into the actual LA event that you just worked through.
It looks like the Palisades fire is now has a horizon.
(14:03):
It's now a bit more under control, but there's obviously was other fires in LA going on concurrently.
What makes the decision that, right, let's send these resources back or let's rotate
these resources.
So as far as rotating, it all depends on the time.
So essentially when you're assigned to an incident, you can work from 14 days commitment
(14:27):
to a 21 day commitment if needed.
So for me, it was a 14 day commitment.
And that's basically the way it works because they want to make sure that they're getting
the word out.
So that's a great question and it's an important question because people want to know what are
(15:06):
we doing when you look at a fire department, you have a fire marshal's office.
The fire marshal's office is the entity that's protecting the community and preventing fires
from happening or the education component.
So what we've been doing since 2020 is we've been partnering with Napa Community Firewise
Foundation, which they apply for grants for a few reduction projects.
(15:31):
So we have a list of few reduction projects.
And over the last five years, we've implemented over $40 million worth of fuel reduction.
So fuel reduction project is different ways.
For those that don't know, what is fuel in fire language?
So vegetation, vegetation, removing vegetation or properly maintaining the vegetation.
(15:56):
It doesn't necessarily mean we're removing vegetation, but it just means we're modifying
the vegetation to provide a negative impact on the community during a wildfire event.
So we do roadside clearing projects.
So what that is is we clear up to 100 feet on each side of the road.
(16:21):
Some of the communities here in Napa County, we only have one means of egress.
So as we saw in the Palisades, you have a dozer that's pushing vehicles out.
What we're trying to do is, and when we have a community such as Circle Oaks, 360 lots
of, and one way in, one way out, and they have to evacuate immediately, there's going
(16:41):
to be some challenges of evacuating the entire community.
So what we do is we do open up the roadside.
That way it lessens the fuel that's close to the road so that it buys time for people
to be able to evacuate.
And so what you're speaking on is those that might not have seen it is on, what you saw
(17:02):
on the news or on Instagram is people had to evacuate so quickly.
It just turned into a parking lot on the main thoroughfares, the main roads just turned
into parking lots.
And you're making the analogy of Circle Oaks here in Napa County, which is halfway to Berry
Esa out that direction.
You've got this community, it sounds like 360 homes.
(17:24):
And so you clear the road, or you clear both sides of the road.
So should cars need to pull off or continue on their way on some dirt, correct?
All things can keep flowing to keep everybody safe.
Yeah, absolutely.
We don't want people to feel unsafe where they have to abandon their vehicles.
So all we're doing is buying time for the, so that they can get to a safe area.
(17:46):
Yeah.
So that's a roadside clearing project.
We do perimeter shade of fuel break.
So what our shade of fuel break is we're taking a swath of land and we're eliminating everything
that's dead and dry, as far as weeds, but also annual grasses, but also trees.
We're eliminating bay trees, manzanita.
(18:08):
So we consider those.
So some trees just burn far hotter than other trees.
Exactly.
We consider those pyrophetic, highly combustible vegetation.
And so the idea is as the fires approaching a community and the perimeter side, as it's
approaching, it's by performing such a project, it's reducing the intensity of a wildfire
(18:29):
that's coming close to that community so that we can potentially fight that fire and keep
it away.
And you're just starting to scrape the surface of it now, but could you speak to a little
bit of the fire science of how these fires are burning hotter, moving faster, going further,
and they change the thermodynamics of the wind?
(18:50):
Can you speak to why the wildfire events as of late are bigger than they've ever been
before?
Absolutely.
So wildfires are driven by three main components.
The first one is mother nature.
So dry conditions, the strong wind events are relative humidity levels, right?
(19:13):
So everything's very, very dry like in LA.
Then we have 60, 90 mile per hour wind events.
So one little spark is going to just create that fire so that it's going to develop in
a rapid rate of spread.
The second one is topography.
Napa Valley is known for its beautiful landscaping.
Its beautiful rolling hills.
(19:35):
We have mountains.
So fire is going to spread rapidly when you add topography factor into it.
And the third one?
So a fire on one hill will skip the valley floor between and go straight to the next
hill?
Correct.
It's just going to explode.
It's going to go up, especially as it's going up.
It goes a very rapid rate of spread with the right conditions, wind conditions, and
(20:00):
the fuels.
It's just going to take off.
And I definitely know far less than you or anyone in your organization.
But I think what I have experienced as somebody who has experienced wildfires as a community
member, what does not conceptually make sense to somebody that's never experienced a wildfire
(20:23):
is how fast they move.
And people might have experienced at a camping fire, or maybe they've done some approved burning
on their property, or they've been around a bonfire.
These things move so quick, and especially in dry air, and especially in winds, that
(20:47):
can you just speak to the rate of growth of either LA or some of these other fires that
we've talked about?
I know Paradise, the town up in Norakow.
Can you just speak to the velocity at which they move?
Yeah, depending on the topography, the fuel load, and the fuel types, and the wind speed,
(21:09):
sometimes you're going to get spotting.
So amber cast.
An amber cast is essentially embers landing ahead of the fire.
So it's spotting ahead of the fire.
So your fire starts here, but with the wind condition, once it gets into trees, and it
starts crowning, then what's going to happen is that tree is going to start spitting balls
(21:31):
of embers ahead of the fire.
It could go up to nine miles ahead of the fire.
So we're talking about maybe 30, 40 acres within the minute.
So just to put it in perspective.
And once you add the wind, as you say, at least my limited understanding of how the fires
(21:54):
were in 20, having lived here and lived through it, the fire created so many fronts that everywhere
resources were deployed, the fire was just exponentially growing because of the wind.
There was just not enough resources to focus on one location.
It just kept multiplying.
Yeah.
So far has its own behavior.
(22:15):
So you have a sudden wind shift.
So that's one of the things that we always look out for is sudden wind shift.
So when you look at the glass wire, when it started initially, we were under red flag
conditions, very dry, low RH levels, so relative community levels.
And then we have 89 knee-mile power winds.
The fire started pushing towards the east, towards Angwin.
(22:38):
So a few hours later, it started pushing south towards Rutherford.
Again, in the afternoon, it jumped the valley and it ignited the Spring Mountain area.
Which is miles away from where you're talking about.
Correct.
Exactly.
And then after that, it started pushing north towards Tubbs.
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So essentially, it's doing a U or a circle, but it fires making its own behavior and it's
going to go wherever it wants to.
And when you have a 90 mile per hour wind behind it, all you could do is get out of
the way and as far as...
And try to limit the fuel it has.
Exactly.
(23:19):
And evacuate.
That's the biggest thing.
It's evacuating the community is the first thing.
Can you speak about preparedness?
I think there's a few levels of preparedness, but let's start with inside the home.
What are some things that people can do inside of their home to be prepared to evacuate?
I think instead of the home is creating a go-back and being...
(23:43):
What should that include?
So a go-back includes the necessary documentation, for instance, birth certificates.
Showers to replace documents.
Exactly.
Then the other thing is medicine.
The medicine that you need, have that ready, then clothes.
(24:04):
So at the very least, enough for three days where you're not going to have any additional.
Water, food, radio, battery operated radio, flashlights.
I always recommend people always have tools such as...
You're going to have a can opener for your food as well.
(24:26):
And have a plan for your pets as well, for your animals, especially in the county, large
animals.
I mean, those are our babies.
We have to take care of our horses.
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(24:47):
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(25:09):
Cheers.
I think the only one that I would add to what you mentioned is, because definitely everything
you mentioned are the critical, but I have in my go bag.
I have a hand-cranked phone charger.
And so, the ability to stay connected to information in your cell phone to stay in age is hypercritical,
(25:33):
especially there's amazing apps that are set up to push consistent notifications to the
community as well.
So you don't have to catch every news alert.
Your phone will catch it for you, and then you can read the information when you're ready.
No, absolutely.
Napa County specifically protects Genesis, which is the evacuation app.
What you sign up for, it used to be Nixle, now it's Everbridge Alert.
(25:59):
We spoke about in the home, what are some things if you have a country property or something
that is in community that is near fuel, near vegetation, what are some things that you
can do for your physical property to stay prepared?
Yeah, so reducing the fuel load that's close to the structure.
And what we mean by that is...
So that's no tall grass.
(26:20):
Yeah.
So that's about four inches or less in height from 100 or 150 feet from the structure.
The second thing is clearing your roads in case you have to evacuate, you can safely
do so.
Identifying two means of egress in case one of your means of egress is blocked, how can
you get off that mountain?
(26:41):
Parking your vehicle knows out, especially during those red flag warnings.
So during the night, you don't have to back up.
All you can do is get in and get out.
And point the vehicle ready to drive out.
Exactly.
And then leave it outside.
Don't leave it inside your garage because you're probably going to lose power during
these fires.
So how are you going to get that garage door open?
(27:01):
The other thing is focusing on making sure there's no open penetrations to your structure.
So if you have underneath your eaves, your screens, you're making sure that you're replacing
them so that they're 1 1⁄8 of an inch so that if we do have an amber cast, no amber
cast could actually go through your foundation or into your attic and can ignite something
(27:25):
from within the house.
You're seeing cases of this in LA where people have used sprinkler systems or steel braid
hoses or other things that allowed them to use water systems while they left their property.
We have friends that have saved their properties or their vineyards through sprinkler systems.
(27:48):
So what does the fire department think of using water resources to wet your property
or make sure that the property doesn't burn itself?
And how does that strain the shared resources?
So in the county, that's one of the things in the county, majority of the homes that
(28:09):
we deal with, they have their own water source.
So it's not a well.
It's a well.
It could be a well.
It could be a water storage tank.
It could be something like here in the city where you have a municipal well water.
So what we recommend and we tell people is don't spin your wheels, spinning thousands
(28:30):
and thousands of dollars buying these systems.
Now we're not saying they don't work.
What we're saying is if you're going to do that, make sure you've eliminated all your
cypress trees, make sure you remove all the manzanita that's so close to your structure.
Focus on reducing the fuels first, then focus on if you want to do it, then spend your money
(28:54):
on buying these type of systems.
There's so many systems out there.
There's so many things.
People have asked me about paint.
They've asked me about different things.
And that's a thing now where you're replacing your wood-sided structure in the middle of
the forest with stucco, changing roofs to a metal roof or tile, something that's going
(29:19):
to be fire-resistive.
Now it still doesn't guarantee that you're going to survive a wildfire.
Yeah, there's no guarantee, sure.
But it's going to give, there's a reason why we call it defensible space.
When we're doing, after we've evacuated a community, we do what we call structure defense.
And so what that means is I'm going to go into every property and then I'm going to
(29:40):
do a lap.
I'm going to run around and I'm going to say, I'm going to put you in one of three categories.
Are you threatened, threatened defendable or threatened non-defendable?
If you eliminated all your fuels that's close to a structure, then I would categorize you
in a threatened defendable because I can physically withstand the heat.
(30:06):
If you have so much fuel, clothes, so much vegetation that burns hot and intense, such
as bay trees and rosemary.
It's a risk to the firefighters at that point.
And at that point, I'm not going to spin my wheels.
I'm going to go to another home and I'm going to see if I can protect it.
That's so interesting.
Some of my good friends had lost their engine in the prior fires that burned over.
(30:35):
They shared a very similar story.
They were trying to defend a street that was considered defendable and the fire changed
direction so quickly that it jumped past the street and burned back and it was crazy.
But I mean, there's so many stories of the community coming together to fight fire.
How would you... It sounds like best practices, have a go back.
(30:57):
Make sure that there's obvious fuels that are mitigated.
Make sure your house has the basic hardening level to be able to defend itself.
How would you describe the people that are more at risk, low income people that are maybe
elderly or are in a position where they need an able-bodied person to help them do anything?
(31:21):
What are some things that those members of the community can do to better prepare?
Well, we tell and that's something that we started in 2020 after the fires.
We recognize that there was a lot of need for education.
We started a consulting program.
(31:41):
That is, is you as a property owner or as a tenant, if you want to be directed the right
way or on what you should be doing to prepare, you can call our fire department and myself
or any of our engine companies are going to come out.
We're going to focus on you.
(32:01):
We're going to tour your property and we're going to give you a scope of work as far as
this is what you shall do and this is what we recommend.
So hands on reaching out to the community to actually help individual people better
prepare.
Correct.
This is a wonderful place to wrap up.
Could you please share your details and we will link to everything in the show notes,
(32:25):
but could you just share all of your contact details as we wrap up here so people can reach
out to our local resources?
Absolutely.
My name is Eric Hernandez, Deputy Fire Marshal with Napa County Fire Department.
Your office phone number is 707-299-1464.
(32:48):
My email address is erick.hernandez.
We have a Fire Marshal, Napa County Fire Marshal, social media, Facebook and Instagram
page.
And then we also are, you can look us up in county of Napa.org forward slash fire marshal.
(33:09):
Thank you very much.
We'll link to this in the show notes.
Again, I'm Andrew Allison.
I'm the CEO at Kuve.
We make this podcast in partnership with Highway 29 Media.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cheers.
The Napa Valley Insider Podcast has been brought to you by Kuve, the Napa Winery Guide.
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(33:31):
Find out more at kuveapp.com.
Cheers.
This is the Napa Valley Insider podcast brought to you by Kuvei, the Napa Winery Guide in
(00:07):
partnership with Highway 29 Media.
All right, all right, all right.
Welcome back to another episode of Napa Valley Insider.
I'm Andrew Allison.
I am the CEO of Kuvei.
We make the Napa Winery Guide app.
I make this podcast in partnership with Highway 29 Media.
I'm so excited to introduce today's guest, some of the local heroes.
(00:32):
Who are you and what do you do?
Sure.
First of all, thank you so much for giving us an opportunity to be here today.
My name is Eric Hernandez.
I'm the Deputy Fire Marshal for Napa County Fire Department.
And you just came back from somewhere.
Where'd you come back from?
Yeah, so about two weeks ago, I was deployed down to the Eden Fire down in LA, in the
(00:54):
Alta Dina area.
And from Napa County or the greater Napa area, how many resources did Napa send to
SoCal to help fight these fires?
So I want to say we sent two strike teams.
So a strike team consists of five engines with the crew each, and then also a strike
(01:16):
team leader.
So essentially, it's like a supervisor that oversees those five engines and the crews.
So we sent two of those.
We also sent a volunteer engine that is part of another strike team with two engines from
Fairfield, one from St. Helena City and one from Calistoga.
Then we send overhead personnel.
(01:37):
So we have one of our division chiefs, Chief Brian Ham, and myself.
I went down as overhead as well.
And we also sent additional personnel as overhead.
So I want to say in total, probably about 40 to 60 people.
(01:57):
Then we also sent additional staff to preposition.
So in case we had new fires, we had additional staff ready to be deployed to new fires.
Wow, that's incredible.
And so before we dive into the current events, what is your origin story?
And how did you make your way into the fire service here in Napa County?
(02:23):
So I was born in Guatemala in a small little village.
And when I was four, we immigrated to LA.
And I was in LA until I was 14.
So essentially 15 minutes away from Altadena.
So I went to the elementary middle school in LA.
(02:44):
Even when I was 14 during that summer before I started high school, we decided to come
up north and we ended up in Deer Park.
Wow, St. Helena.
St. Helena, correct.
So I went to St. Helena High School, graduated from there in Class of 03.
03?
03.
Okay, you just have literally just a few years ahead of me.
(03:05):
But that's so funny.
The last couple of guests went to St. Helena High too.
They're all in the wine industry, of course.
But St. Helena High has produced some amazing Napa Valley talent.
Yeah, no, I was blessed to.
The current principal from St. Helena High School, Mr. Sinto, he was one of my teachers
(03:27):
back in the day.
And I love that guy.
He did a lot for me from just a mentorship.
So I have a lot of gratitude for him, a lot of respect for him.
So how did you make your way into the fire service?
So just like everybody else started washing dishes, started working their tailor's automatic
(03:51):
refresher when it used to be tailor's.
Now gots for those that.
Now gots, correct.
Then I did just physical labor jobs.
And it wasn't until 2012 when there was a case in St. Helena.
(04:17):
So it was a housing issue.
And I was assisting and translating.
So a greater Napa Fair Housing was looking for someone to assist and to case work.
And so that was essentially my first desk job.
So they were like, hey, you know, you're bilingual, you do a good job.
Would you like to work for us?
(04:38):
So that's how you got involved with codes and getting into that.
So then from there, I met someone.
He basically said, you know, you should come and work for the city Napa Fire Department
City Napa as a code enforcement officer.
So I applied, I got the job about a year and a half later.
I learned that they were looking for a fire inspector.
(05:00):
So I went through the fire marshal track and I got into the Napa City Fire Marshal's
office as a fire inspector.
Five years later, I came over to the county and as of, you know, 2019 I've been with the
county, worked my way from, started as a fire inspector.
(05:20):
One, two, and then last year I was promoted to deputy fire marshal.
And so for those that might not be familiar.
What were the really bad fire years in the recent years in Napa County?
Well, so we've always had fires, but the worst I want to say was back in 2017 at the same
(05:40):
time where we had the Tubbs fire started in Calistoga then worked its way down in Coffee
Park in Santa Rosa.
At the same time, simultaneously, we had the Atlas fire in Atlas Peak Road in that neighborhood.
We then had the Patrick fire and the Nuns fire happening at the same time.
(06:01):
So we essentially had four fires happening at the same time.
So in that really stretch Napa's resources, right?
Absolutely.
So when that happens, so because it's considered SRA state responsibility area, Cal Fire basically
caused an incident management team to come in and assist and basically manage the incident.
So you exhaust all the local resources, but you still have to keep a level of service
(06:26):
for your general traffic collisions, medical calls, structure fires, anything.
So incident management team was deployed.
That was back in 2017.
Fast forward to 2020, we had the LED lighting complex and the Hennessy fire and then it
just grew and then it became a complex.
(06:49):
For those that don't know the vernacular, the lexicon, what is the difference between
a fire and a complex?
So a complex essentially it means that you have multiple fires within the unit and within
the Cal Fire unit.
And so you have just to put it in context, the Cal Fire Sonoma Lake Napa unit that basically
(07:10):
oversees us consists of six counties.
So it's Yolo, Colusa, Solano, Lake County, Sonoma and Napa County.
And so that's in the state's responsibility area.
But also Napa County has a contract with Cal Fire Sonoma Lake Napa unit to oversee, you
(07:31):
know, like here, like the outbill.
That's not necessarily state responsibility area because it's not out in the mountains,
but there is a contract.
And so it's seven stations in Napa County and then nine volunteer stations in Napa County.
Wow.
I had no idea that we had so many resources, but even having experienced those fires as
(07:57):
a resident, I knew we brought in resources from other places.
So before we even talk about the current events of LA, how many resources did Napa bring in
in those years, those big fire years?
Wow, a lot.
It's hard to say because in 2020, the lightning complex, we had multiple fires.
(08:19):
So I don't know the number of engines.
What I can tell you though is it was over 200,000 acres that were impacted.
And a month later, we had the glass wire, which was in dear part.
It just felt like the never ending fire season.
Absolutely.
And actually, what made it difficult is not only was Napa County on fire, but also down
(08:43):
in Santa Cruz, they also had fires going.
So what ended up happening is Northern California was hit with a dry lightning.
And so you had multiple fires going on at the same time.
We had resources that were assigned to fire for 72 hours without getting any relief.
(09:04):
And typically during a fire, you'll work 24 hours on and 24 hours off.
But in this case, because the state was stretched off.
So there's no option.
There's no option.
You just continue going and hope that you get relief anytime soon.
Follow us on Instagram at Kuveh Collective HQ.
(09:24):
If there's someone in Napa's hospitality scene you'd like to see featured in our industry
interview series, send us a DM.
We're asking the pros where they go, whether it's the best burger or the top cocktail,
our audience wants to know your favorites around the valley.
Make sure you follow us on Instagram at Kuveh Collective HQ.
Link in the show notes.
Your experience here in Napa must have been really valuable as you've built over these
(09:51):
incidents or devastating events to build this resume.
When LA happened or still is happening.
What did you think of when you thought of what Napa could bring to LA from its experience
bank?
Yeah.
So the first thing is the mutual aid.
(10:13):
California is known for its mutual aid program, which means one phone call to the office of
emergency services.
Automatically, you put an order in of how many resources you think you need and the state
starts working in this fashion.
Starts pooling resources.
Correct.
So when I was just trying to get back into work mode because I was in Mexico for three
(10:38):
weeks on vacation, I'm thinking, okay, let's start the year and boom, here we go.
LA gets hit with a fire, which was astonishing because we know that fire season is year long.
It's no longer six months.
Yeah, it shouldn't be happening in January.
It's now 12 months.
Exactly.
So, but in the area, you have the Palisades fire going on and then a couple hours later,
(10:58):
you have the Eaton fire on the Alta Dina.
And that's an area in my heart because I grew up 10, 15 minutes away from there.
So I place a call.
I'm available.
What do you need?
And so luckily, the same team that was in center management team that was deployed to
the Eaton fire was actually here back in 2020, managing the glass fire.
(11:21):
Wow.
So they already knew who I was and they said, you know what, get on the road.
Let's go.
I'll be right over you and just get on the road.
So you know, at that end is all hands on deck.
You know, we're continuing the mission of providing a service and getting our community
members safe.
And at that point, it's not really about what type of patch you're wearing or, you know,
(11:47):
what the fire department you're representing.
It's about providing a service to the two, to our community members of the state of California.
And if, you know, we have to outside of that.
So at that point, that's our main objective.
And can I just ask how has your ability to speak multiple languages supported you in
(12:10):
incidents like this?
You know, it's funny you say that because when I went down, I was, I went down to LA
as overhead.
So you know, public information officer, deal with the media, go into shelters.
This was the first time that I actually went to a shelter to as a PA, a public information
officer.
(12:32):
What made this one a little bit different was because of the area of the fire, you have
a strong Spanish speaking community.
So they said, you know, we're doing the operational videos, operational briefings, where we talk
about the fire behavior, we talk about, you know, the operations, how many resources,
how many acres, all those numbers.
(12:52):
Then they do a second video every morning, it is your weather update.
So same thing, just talk about the weather, wind conditions, you know, what's, what's
ahead red flag and Southern California, they have something called a particular dangerous
situation.
So it's essentially, it's going to be really bad.
Then the third one, a third video was your fire behavior, where you talk about how the
(13:16):
wind conditions may or may not affect the fire and the perimeter and just, you know,
just a general summary.
So they asked me, you know, you're very good about translating.
We want you to start translating, doing those videos in Spanish.
So I said, you know what, whatever you guys need, let me know and I'll do it.
(13:39):
So they said, yeah, we want you to do them.
So same thing.
You have a...
You just duplicated the content again.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, that's amazing.
You're just getting the word out.
Let's dive into the actual LA event that you just worked through.
It looks like the Palisades fire is now has a horizon.
(14:03):
It's now a bit more under control, but there's obviously was other fires in LA going on concurrently.
What makes the decision that, right, let's send these resources back or let's rotate
these resources.
So as far as rotating, it all depends on the time.
So essentially when you're assigned to an incident, you can work from 14 days commitment
(14:27):
to a 21 day commitment if needed.
So for me, it was a 14 day commitment.
And that's basically the way it works because they want to make sure that they're getting
the word out.
So that's a great question and it's an important question because people want to know what are
(15:06):
we doing when you look at a fire department, you have a fire marshal's office.
The fire marshal's office is the entity that's protecting the community and preventing fires
from happening or the education component.
So what we've been doing since 2020 is we've been partnering with Napa Community Firewise
Foundation, which they apply for grants for a few reduction projects.
(15:31):
So we have a list of few reduction projects.
And over the last five years, we've implemented over $40 million worth of fuel reduction.
So fuel reduction project is different ways.
For those that don't know, what is fuel in fire language?
So vegetation, vegetation, removing vegetation or properly maintaining the vegetation.
(15:56):
It doesn't necessarily mean we're removing vegetation, but it just means we're modifying
the vegetation to provide a negative impact on the community during a wildfire event.
So we do roadside clearing projects.
So what that is is we clear up to 100 feet on each side of the road.
(16:21):
Some of the communities here in Napa County, we only have one means of egress.
So as we saw in the Palisades, you have a dozer that's pushing vehicles out.
What we're trying to do is, and when we have a community such as Circle Oaks, 360 lots
of, and one way in, one way out, and they have to evacuate immediately, there's going
(16:41):
to be some challenges of evacuating the entire community.
So what we do is we do open up the roadside.
That way it lessens the fuel that's close to the road so that it buys time for people
to be able to evacuate.
And so what you're speaking on is those that might not have seen it is on, what you saw
(17:02):
on the news or on Instagram is people had to evacuate so quickly.
It just turned into a parking lot on the main thoroughfares, the main roads just turned
into parking lots.
And you're making the analogy of Circle Oaks here in Napa County, which is halfway to Berry
Esa out that direction.
You've got this community, it sounds like 360 homes.
(17:24):
And so you clear the road, or you clear both sides of the road.
So should cars need to pull off or continue on their way on some dirt, correct?
All things can keep flowing to keep everybody safe.
Yeah, absolutely.
We don't want people to feel unsafe where they have to abandon their vehicles.
So all we're doing is buying time for the, so that they can get to a safe area.
(17:46):
Yeah.
So that's a roadside clearing project.
We do perimeter shade of fuel break.
So what our shade of fuel break is we're taking a swath of land and we're eliminating everything
that's dead and dry, as far as weeds, but also annual grasses, but also trees.
We're eliminating bay trees, manzanita.
(18:08):
So we consider those.
So some trees just burn far hotter than other trees.
Exactly.
We consider those pyrophetic, highly combustible vegetation.
And so the idea is as the fires approaching a community and the perimeter side, as it's
approaching, it's by performing such a project, it's reducing the intensity of a wildfire
(18:29):
that's coming close to that community so that we can potentially fight that fire and keep
it away.
And you're just starting to scrape the surface of it now, but could you speak to a little
bit of the fire science of how these fires are burning hotter, moving faster, going further,
and they change the thermodynamics of the wind?
(18:50):
Can you speak to why the wildfire events as of late are bigger than they've ever been
before?
Absolutely.
So wildfires are driven by three main components.
The first one is mother nature.
So dry conditions, the strong wind events are relative humidity levels, right?
(19:13):
So everything's very, very dry like in LA.
Then we have 60, 90 mile per hour wind events.
So one little spark is going to just create that fire so that it's going to develop in
a rapid rate of spread.
The second one is topography.
Napa Valley is known for its beautiful landscaping.
Its beautiful rolling hills.
(19:35):
We have mountains.
So fire is going to spread rapidly when you add topography factor into it.
And the third one?
So a fire on one hill will skip the valley floor between and go straight to the next
hill?
Correct.
It's just going to explode.
It's going to go up, especially as it's going up.
It goes a very rapid rate of spread with the right conditions, wind conditions, and
(20:00):
the fuels.
It's just going to take off.
And I definitely know far less than you or anyone in your organization.
But I think what I have experienced as somebody who has experienced wildfires as a community
member, what does not conceptually make sense to somebody that's never experienced a wildfire
(20:23):
is how fast they move.
And people might have experienced at a camping fire, or maybe they've done some approved burning
on their property, or they've been around a bonfire.
These things move so quick, and especially in dry air, and especially in winds, that
(20:47):
can you just speak to the rate of growth of either LA or some of these other fires that
we've talked about?
I know Paradise, the town up in Norakow.
Can you just speak to the velocity at which they move?
Yeah, depending on the topography, the fuel load, and the fuel types, and the wind speed,
(21:09):
sometimes you're going to get spotting.
So amber cast.
An amber cast is essentially embers landing ahead of the fire.
So it's spotting ahead of the fire.
So your fire starts here, but with the wind condition, once it gets into trees, and it
starts crowning, then what's going to happen is that tree is going to start spitting balls
(21:31):
of embers ahead of the fire.
It could go up to nine miles ahead of the fire.
So we're talking about maybe 30, 40 acres within the minute.
So just to put it in perspective.
And once you add the wind, as you say, at least my limited understanding of how the fires
(21:54):
were in 20, having lived here and lived through it, the fire created so many fronts that everywhere
resources were deployed, the fire was just exponentially growing because of the wind.
There was just not enough resources to focus on one location.
It just kept multiplying.
Yeah.
So far has its own behavior.
(22:15):
So you have a sudden wind shift.
So that's one of the things that we always look out for is sudden wind shift.
So when you look at the glass wire, when it started initially, we were under red flag
conditions, very dry, low RH levels, so relative community levels.
And then we have 89 knee-mile power winds.
The fire started pushing towards the east, towards Angwin.
(22:38):
So a few hours later, it started pushing south towards Rutherford.
Again, in the afternoon, it jumped the valley and it ignited the Spring Mountain area.
Which is miles away from where you're talking about.
Correct.
Exactly.
And then after that, it started pushing north towards Tubbs.
(22:58):
So essentially, it's doing a U or a circle, but it fires making its own behavior and it's
going to go wherever it wants to.
And when you have a 90 mile per hour wind behind it, all you could do is get out of
the way and as far as...
And try to limit the fuel it has.
Exactly.
(23:19):
And evacuate.
That's the biggest thing.
It's evacuating the community is the first thing.
Can you speak about preparedness?
I think there's a few levels of preparedness, but let's start with inside the home.
What are some things that people can do inside of their home to be prepared to evacuate?
I think instead of the home is creating a go-back and being...
(23:43):
What should that include?
So a go-back includes the necessary documentation, for instance, birth certificates.
Showers to replace documents.
Exactly.
Then the other thing is medicine.
The medicine that you need, have that ready, then clothes.
(24:04):
So at the very least, enough for three days where you're not going to have any additional.
Water, food, radio, battery operated radio, flashlights.
I always recommend people always have tools such as...
You're going to have a can opener for your food as well.
(24:26):
And have a plan for your pets as well, for your animals, especially in the county, large
animals.
I mean, those are our babies.
We have to take care of our horses.
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(24:47):
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(25:09):
Cheers.
I think the only one that I would add to what you mentioned is, because definitely everything
you mentioned are the critical, but I have in my go bag.
I have a hand-cranked phone charger.
And so, the ability to stay connected to information in your cell phone to stay in age is hypercritical,
(25:33):
especially there's amazing apps that are set up to push consistent notifications to the
community as well.
So you don't have to catch every news alert.
Your phone will catch it for you, and then you can read the information when you're ready.
No, absolutely.
Napa County specifically protects Genesis, which is the evacuation app.
What you sign up for, it used to be Nixle, now it's Everbridge Alert.
(25:59):
We spoke about in the home, what are some things if you have a country property or something
that is in community that is near fuel, near vegetation, what are some things that you
can do for your physical property to stay prepared?
Yeah, so reducing the fuel load that's close to the structure.
And what we mean by that is...
So that's no tall grass.
(26:20):
Yeah.
So that's about four inches or less in height from 100 or 150 feet from the structure.
The second thing is clearing your roads in case you have to evacuate, you can safely
do so.
Identifying two means of egress in case one of your means of egress is blocked, how can
you get off that mountain?
(26:41):
Parking your vehicle knows out, especially during those red flag warnings.
So during the night, you don't have to back up.
All you can do is get in and get out.
And point the vehicle ready to drive out.
Exactly.
And then leave it outside.
Don't leave it inside your garage because you're probably going to lose power during
these fires.
So how are you going to get that garage door open?
(27:01):
The other thing is focusing on making sure there's no open penetrations to your structure.
So if you have underneath your eaves, your screens, you're making sure that you're replacing
them so that they're 1 1⁄8 of an inch so that if we do have an amber cast, no amber
cast could actually go through your foundation or into your attic and can ignite something
(27:25):
from within the house.
You're seeing cases of this in LA where people have used sprinkler systems or steel braid
hoses or other things that allowed them to use water systems while they left their property.
We have friends that have saved their properties or their vineyards through sprinkler systems.
(27:48):
So what does the fire department think of using water resources to wet your property
or make sure that the property doesn't burn itself?
And how does that strain the shared resources?
So in the county, that's one of the things in the county, majority of the homes that
(28:09):
we deal with, they have their own water source.
So it's not a well.
It's a well.
It could be a well.
It could be a water storage tank.
It could be something like here in the city where you have a municipal well water.
So what we recommend and we tell people is don't spin your wheels, spinning thousands
(28:30):
and thousands of dollars buying these systems.
Now we're not saying they don't work.
What we're saying is if you're going to do that, make sure you've eliminated all your
cypress trees, make sure you remove all the manzanita that's so close to your structure.
Focus on reducing the fuels first, then focus on if you want to do it, then spend your money
(28:54):
on buying these type of systems.
There's so many systems out there.
There's so many things.
People have asked me about paint.
They've asked me about different things.
And that's a thing now where you're replacing your wood-sided structure in the middle of
the forest with stucco, changing roofs to a metal roof or tile, something that's going
(29:19):
to be fire-resistive.
Now it still doesn't guarantee that you're going to survive a wildfire.
Yeah, there's no guarantee, sure.
But it's going to give, there's a reason why we call it defensible space.
When we're doing, after we've evacuated a community, we do what we call structure defense.
And so what that means is I'm going to go into every property and then I'm going to
(29:40):
do a lap.
I'm going to run around and I'm going to say, I'm going to put you in one of three categories.
Are you threatened, threatened defendable or threatened non-defendable?
If you eliminated all your fuels that's close to a structure, then I would categorize you
in a threatened defendable because I can physically withstand the heat.
(30:06):
If you have so much fuel, clothes, so much vegetation that burns hot and intense, such
as bay trees and rosemary.
It's a risk to the firefighters at that point.
And at that point, I'm not going to spin my wheels.
I'm going to go to another home and I'm going to see if I can protect it.
That's so interesting.
Some of my good friends had lost their engine in the prior fires that burned over.
(30:35):
They shared a very similar story.
They were trying to defend a street that was considered defendable and the fire changed
direction so quickly that it jumped past the street and burned back and it was crazy.
But I mean, there's so many stories of the community coming together to fight fire.
How would you... It sounds like best practices, have a go back.
(30:57):
Make sure that there's obvious fuels that are mitigated.
Make sure your house has the basic hardening level to be able to defend itself.
How would you describe the people that are more at risk, low income people that are maybe
elderly or are in a position where they need an able-bodied person to help them do anything?
(31:21):
What are some things that those members of the community can do to better prepare?
Well, we tell and that's something that we started in 2020 after the fires.
We recognize that there was a lot of need for education.
We started a consulting program.
(31:41):
That is, is you as a property owner or as a tenant, if you want to be directed the right
way or on what you should be doing to prepare, you can call our fire department and myself
or any of our engine companies are going to come out.
We're going to focus on you.
(32:01):
We're going to tour your property and we're going to give you a scope of work as far as
this is what you shall do and this is what we recommend.
So hands on reaching out to the community to actually help individual people better
prepare.
Correct.
This is a wonderful place to wrap up.
Could you please share your details and we will link to everything in the show notes,
(32:25):
but could you just share all of your contact details as we wrap up here so people can reach
out to our local resources?
Absolutely.
My name is Eric Hernandez, Deputy Fire Marshal with Napa County Fire Department.
Your office phone number is 707-299-1464.
(32:48):
My email address is erick.hernandez.
We have a Fire Marshal, Napa County Fire Marshal, social media, Facebook and Instagram
page.
And then we also are, you can look us up in county of Napa.org forward slash fire marshal.
(33:09):
Thank you very much.
We'll link to this in the show notes.
Again, I'm Andrew Allison.
I'm the CEO at Kuve.
We make this podcast in partnership with Highway 29 Media.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cheers.
The Napa Valley Insider Podcast has been brought to you by Kuve, the Napa Winery Guide.
Download the app for iPhone today and start planning your perfect wine country adventure.
(33:31):
Find out more at kuveapp.com.
Cheers.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.