Napa wine warehouse fire damage estimated at $2.5M

A fire at a Bronco Wine Company warehouse near Napa County Airport on Thursday afternoon caused an estimated $2.5 million in damage, but nearly all the building and inventory was spared, according to county officials and news reports.

The blaze at the building, located at 645 Devlin Road, was reported just after 2 p.m. and brought response from Napa County Fire/Cal Fire, American Canyon and Vallejo agencies, providing 14 pieces of equipment, according to Geoff Belyea, Napa County fire chief.

“When we get fires in larger buildings like that, you get a bigger response,” he told the Business Journal. The building has 75,000 square feet, according to a JLL real estate listing.

Only 10% of the building was damaged, and only 20% was affected of the inventory inside, which typically is 500,000-600,000 cases, county officials told the Napa Valley Register. Calls to Bronco Wine for comment weren’t returned.

Most of the damage to the building was to the roof and parapet, while damage to the inventory mostly came from fire sprinklers, Belyea told the Journal.

The fire is thought to have started on the roof, shattered a skylight and dropped flames onto stored inventory below, igniting cardboard cases and triggering the fire sprinklers, he said.

The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, Belyea said.