Just a quick update on the current fire situation here. So far we are all safe here.

Over the weekend a fast moving wildfire broke out in adjacent Napa County. Hot valley winds spread the fire westward and into Sonoma County. It burned to 11,000+ acres in less than 8 hours. It's now over 40,000 acres and still at zero containment.

The attached map show where we are located (green dot) compared to the current fire. The other dots are from satellite data. Red is for active in the last 12 hours. Orange is 24 hours, yellow is 48 hours. The light pink shaded areas are the perimeters of the fires we had earlier this year.

Ash is raining down everywhere, and the smoke has been so thick that yesterday it completely obscured the sun. Callistoga and other towns to the east have been wholly evacuated. We have friends staying with us that were evacuated. But we're hanging in there!

Yikes. 

I sure wish we could send you some of this torrential rain.

Thanks for the update Mica. Good to hear the Alembic crew is safe.

The smoke and heat has cleared a bit in Oakland today but it was bad here yesterday. My wife and I have been worried about the animals that live on the property of our favorite winery in St Helena. We are sure the owners and staff have evacuated but they own lots of sheep and goats. The winery is on the Silverado Trail a bit south and east of Calistoga, not far from the winery that looks like a castle where the building with all the bottled wine burned. Hard to believe we are technically only at the beginning of fire season here... what a long strange (bad) trip it's been. Stay safe...

Given the soot and ash in the air I hope all of you have high quality respirators if you need to go out for some reason. Stay safe.

Thanks for the report Mica, we were worried about you folks up there - again.  This just can't be our new normal out here, we've gotta have some mild weather years in the near future.  This whole beautiful state seems to be getting burnt to a crisp over and over again.

Best wishes for your safety and the safety of the entire extended Alembic family up there, including the animals.

Jimmy J

Mica & all of the Alembic Family & Friends , I send you all my sincere  thoughts . hopes and manifestations for all of your safety and well being  Thanks for updating us .

Hoping everyone stays safe.

Stay safe!  We are thinking of you all.

Sending continuous visions of cool rain and clean air.
Thanks for the update Mica.

Glad you're all safe, Mica. Hope things get better soon to you all in California.

Please take care - hope everything settles sooner rather than later.

Was thinking about you earlier, stay safe!

Officially we are at 30% containment on this fire, and the air quality goes up and down. It's crazy that it can be over 400 one day then in the 30-50 range at night when the sea breeze clears things up. The are that is burning looks greatly reduced according to the maps.nwcg.gov website. There have been over thirty deaths, more than a hundred homes, and a good number of other structures burned by these flames. Hoping this is fully extinguished this coming week.

Mica, thanks for checking in . I hope that you all continue to be safe . As well protected from the bad air quality . It is amazing how much a difference a quality air filter can make on the air quality inside . We have 2 Honeywell HFD310 / Air Genius 4 units as well as a DYSON " Pure Cool' .  The Honeywell has  a washable electrostatic filter element as well as a replaceable pre filter . The Dyson has HEPA filters that need to be replaced on occasion  as well as replaceable pre filters . 

Yes, Wolf. We have air cleaners at home and at the office and they make a world of difference. However, we recently installed several huge industrial air cleaners from Industrial Maid in our shop and they are incredible! The air smells better in the shop than the office, and when you exit the office or the shop to the outside the difference is staggering how smoky it smells outside.