Calistoga Sits Where Fire Funnels Into the Valley
The Glass Fire burned through Calistoga's doorstep in 2020, and the Tubbs Fire came from the west in 2017. At the narrow northern terminus of Napa Valley, this small community faces converging fire threats from three sides. Preparation isn't optional here — it's existential.
Calistoga is a small city of roughly 5,300 people at the northern end of the Napa Valley, wedged into the narrow point where the valley floor meets the surrounding mountains. To the east, the Palisades and Vaca Mountains rise steeply. To the west, the Mayacamas Range separates Napa from Sonoma County. To the north, Mount St. Helena and the volcanic terrain of Robert Louis Stevenson State Park close the valley. This geography — beautiful and defining of Calistoga's character — also creates a natural funnel that concentrates wildfire risk from three directions into one of California's most fire-exposed small communities.
The Glass Fire of September 2020 made this risk visceral. Igniting on the slopes above Deer Park southeast of Calistoga, the fire burned 67,484 acres and destroyed 1,555 structures across Napa and Sonoma Counties. The fire burned to within a mile of downtown Calistoga, forced a complete evacuation of the city, and destroyed homes and wineries along Silverado Trail and in the surrounding hills. Three years earlier, the Tubbs Fire (2017) burned 36,807 acres from Calistoga west through the Mayacamas into Santa Rosa, and the 2020 LNU Lightning Complex further scorched the hillsides surrounding the city.