A man who worked as a gardener at a prestigious California winery is accused of igniting a wildfire that caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage and tens of millions’ worth of agricultural losses in Napa County.
The blaze, dubbed the Pickett fire, started near Calistoga last August and burned 6,800 acres over the course of 17 days, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Juan Luis Gutierrez Marfil, 45, of Napa, was charged Thursday with one felony count of recklessly causing a fire of a structure or forest, the Napa County district attorney’s office said in a statement. The offense caused more than $6 million in losses, prosecutors allege.
According to charging documents, Marfil admitted to Cal Fire law enforcement “the disposing of hot ashes into a burn pile,” which allegedly ultimately sparked the blaze.
An arraignment hearing is scheduled for Sept. 9, according to prosecutors.
Sam Singer, a spokesperson for Hundred Acre Wines, said Marfil was working as a contracted gardener when the fire broke out. He was carried over as a worker from Kelly Fleming Wines, which owned the vineyard property at 2339 Pickett Road before Hundred Acre acquired it in 2024, Singer said.
The fire started in the 2300 block of Pickett Road and destroyed five structures, according to Cal Fire. Four were outbuildings and one was a residential structure, according to the charging documents.
In a statement Thursday, the Napa County agricultural commissioner’s office said preliminary reports showed agricultural producers saw roughly $65 million in agricultural losses from the Pickett fire. Most of the damage was to wine grapes, but some damage to beehives was also reported.
Three winemakers earlier this month filed suit against the owner of Hundred Acre Wines, Jayson Woodbridge, and his company alleging that smoke from the wildfire ruined their harvests, the Press Democrat reported.
Hundred Acre denied the claims and said it plans to “vigorously defend” itself in court. The company, through Singer, said the lawsuit contained “unproven” allegations about the cause of the fire and who is responsible for the winemakers’ alleged losses.
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