When the Tubbs Fire tore through Sonoma County five years ago this Saturday, it destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, including dozens of wineries, with losses totaling $7.5 billion dollars.
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Some of those wineries have taken the full five years to rebuild their once pristine facilities.
KCBS Radio wraps up its series of reports this week with a visit to one Santa Rosa winery that has risen from the ashes.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KCBS RADIO) – Rene Byck couldn't make it to his family's mountain top Paradise Ridge Winery the night it was destroyed by the Tubbs Firestorm because he was busy evacuating his children from their home.
"Then the next day, when the fire had run its course, I came and drove up here on the property," he told KCBS Radio.
He recorded the images of the rubble on his cellphone, which he called "devastating."
Decades of work reduced to ashes.
"We lost our hospitality center, the wine making facility, three homes on the property," Byck explained.
Later that day, his father, the family patriarch, on the phone from Denmark told Rene, "We will rebuild."
That process was not easy, though. Byck said their buildings were severely uninsured, to the tune of approximately $7 million.
However, the family persevered and brought the winery back to life. Within two years of the blaze, they opened a gleaming wood, metal and glass tasting room and banquet building.
Still, between the fire and COVID-19, Paradise Ridge continues to hurt.
"Before the fires of 2016, we did 65 weddings," Bysck noted. "I want to say this year (2022) we might be in the 20s."
Byck is still optimistic about the future though, estimating that by next year the winery will be back in the black, six years after the fire. He said Sonoma County has learned a lot.
"Just the way the communication goes out, the way people respond to evacuation notices, all that have been upgraded," he explained.
And that, Byck said, is worth a toast.
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