Update: The Pickett Fire Grew to 3,993 Acres, Containment Holds at 7%
CALISTOGA, Calif. — 8:38 p.m. Aug. 22, 2025 — The Pickett Fire east of Calistoga expanded to 3,993 acres Friday evening while containment remained at 7%, according to CAL FIRE. Officials said the additional growth was due mostly to the fire burning into fuel breaks and previous control lines, not new rapid runs. No new structural threats were reported, and crews continued to strengthen containment lines as temperatures dropped into the evening.
Resources surged to 435 personnel, including 75 engines, 15 bulldozers, 10 water tenders, eight crews and eight helicopters, with fixed-wing air tankers flying as conditions allowed.
Evacuation designations have changed in some areas. Officials urged residents to check the latest maps and instructions at CAL FIRE’s incident page.
The fire has moved southeast and away from downtown Calistoga, but the city remains on alert and serves as a key staging area, with a CAL FIRE command center established at the Calistoga Fairgrounds.
The evacuation shelter at Crosswalk Community Church in Napa was closed on Friday due to lack of evacuees, though plans are in place to reopen if needed. Drift smoke is expected throughout Napa County over the weekend.
Residents can monitor Genasys Protect for updated maps and expect smoke drift.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
More Pickett Fire Information Sources:
Today’s Under the Hood Spotlight
Welcome to Under the Hood, our exclusive Saturday series for Napa Valley Features paid subscribers.
Today’s Under the Hood Article Summary: Napa County has added hundreds of hotel rooms since 2019, yet instead of boosting jobs, the leisure and hospitality sector has shed positions — including nearly 500 in restaurants and bars. For the decade before 2019, more hotel rooms reliably meant more jobs, but the dynamic has flipped. Large resorts can centralize guest spending and operate with leaner staff, which reduces opportunities for independent restaurants and local workers even as tourism levels hold steady. The long-held promise that resort expansion would fuel job growth no longer matches reality on the ground.
Beyond today’s discussion, we’re also diving into the latest data from our readers’ polls and providing insights from our economic dashboard, covering local Napa Valley, U.S. and global markets.
“What We’re Reading” features excerpts from recent articles offering a range of perspectives on topics shaping our community and the wider world. A new section at the end, “Visuals That Caught Our Eye,” spotlights compelling charts and graphs that stood out this week.
“What We’re Reading”: Excerpts of the Day
"The fire was basically a monster. The sky was crazy, it was planes everywhere, bombers dropping." – from Jayson Woodbridge, in "‘Basically a monster’: The Pickett Fire is threatening these Napa Valley wineries," San Francisco Chronicle.
New guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology urge adults with high blood pressure to avoid alcohol entirely, a shift that could affect California’s wine industry and nearly half of U.S. adults, in "New heart guidelines urge people with high blood pressure to avoid alcohol," San Francisco Chronicle.
“And the burger? It was fine. I guess even Thomas Keller can’t improve much on something that doesn’t need improving.” – Paul Franson in NapaLife (a weekly newsletter he has published for more than 20 years) on Keller’s ‘Burgers and Half Bottles’ pop-up in Yountville’s former La Calenda and Hurley’s space.
“Some people can do as many tastings as they want, and I don’t have that luxury.” – from Patrice Breton, in “This new Napa Valley winery is charging $250 for tastings. Here’s why,” San Francisco Chronicle.
