California wildfire smoke reaches Pahrump area

As wildfires continue to wreak destruction throughout California’s Wine Country, smoke from the infernos have now reached the Pahrump Valley, shrouding the town in a haze.

Dan Berc, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas, said Pahrump residents can expect the smoke to continue to linger over the valley unless the winds shift in the next few days.

“I am looking at an upper air pattern over us and there is no question about it,” Berc said on Thursday. “We are getting some of our air coming in from the north and northwest, which is exactly where we would see it coming from with the smoke.

“I know there were huge problems with visibility due to really dense smoke up in Reno yesterday and that would have been coming our way,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s certainly the smoke from the California fires.”

Health concerns

Additionally, Berc said the weather service, at present, has no plans to issue any smoke alerts or advisories.

“I don’t expect we will get smoke dense enough to cause those kinds of problems, but again, it may change over time,” he said. “Usually, this far away from the fire, you won’t see too much unless it’s a direct plume coming right over us, which we will probably not see. Right now, the wind regimen is just favorable to get some of that smoke affecting us, in the Pahrump Valley and the Las Vegas Valley. It’s tough to tell how long the smoke will continue to linger over the valleys.”

Berc also said firefighters in California should not expect help from Mother Nature, anytime soon.

“I don’t see any indication that there’s going to be any kind of big rain event coming up in the near future in California’s central valley that’s going to help extinguish those fires,” he said. “We’re looking at least through the weekend, where we will continue to see the smoke.”

Lives lost/buildings destroyed

The death toll from the fires reached 23 as of Wednesday, while Sonoma County officials have received upward of 600 reports regarding missing people.

At present, 315 have been found safe, but by Wednesday afternoon, the fires had destroyed thousands of structures, while forcing the evacuation of more than 20,000 people, officials said.

Pahrump Valley Winery owner Bill Loken said the destruction of wineries in Central California will have a direct impact on the wine industry.

Loken also expressed his condolences to those who lost their lives.

“There is no question that the fires in California will affect the price of wine,” he said. “What will happen will be a shortage of grapes. We all learned this in school about supply and demand. There is no doubt that it will affect the state overall. It’s going to take decades for Napa Valley to recover from the fires. It’s just so tragic, especially when you think about all of the lives lost. ”

Strange twist

Loken has close friends who live in Santa Rosa.

The couple was in Pahrump last week for the annual Grape Stomp event, as the fire was approaching their California home.

“My friend is in the wine industry, but more on the financial end,” Loken said. “He and his girlfriend flew down on Saturday morning to participate in the Grape Stomp event on Saturday afternoon. They spent Saturday evening in Las Vegas, and they flew home on Sunday night. They got home at 10:30 and went to bed at 11:30. At 2:30 in the morning, there was banging on his door to get out of the house. The fire ended up destroying his home. It’s totally gone.”

Loken said his friend texted a photograph of the aftermath, while noting the couple is safe.

“He and his girlfriend are fine,” he said. “I also have another friend who lives in Napa. Their phones are out, but they can text. He was telling me about the devastation in Napa Valley with some of the big-name wineries that are completely gone.”

Interstate transactions

Additionally, Loken said, he does business with wineries in the central valley.

“We buy grapes from California vineyards, which everybody knows because we tell everybody that,” he said. “We have purchased grapes from Napa Valley and Sonoma in the past, but most of our grapes come out of Lodi, California, which is near Sacramento, along the foothills.”

Though Loken’s winery is thriving, as evidenced by the popular Grape Stomp, daily tours, and a successful restaurant, he does not believe wineries in California will be reaching out to Nevada for help with supplying grapes or products.

“I don’t think so because we are too small,” he said. “There are less than 50 acres of wine grapes in the state of Nevada. California has 550,000 acres of wine grapes, so they will not be looking at Nevada for anything. We are doing well and we continue to add vineyards in the state of Nevada. Within a couple of years, you will see a lot more Nevada wine than you do now.”

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com, on Twitter: @pvtimes