Felony Charges Filed in 2025 Pickett Fire
Prosecutors say a winery contractor admitted dumping hot ashes that sparked the 6,820-acre blaze near Calistoga.
NAPA COUNTY: The Napa County District Attorney’s office has filed felony charges against a 45-year-old Napa man accused of recklessly starting the 2025 Pickett Fire, the 6,820-acre blaze that scorched the hills northeast of Calistoga and inflicted tens of millions of dollars in agricultural losses.
Juan Luis Gutierrez Marfil was charged Aug. 27 with one felony count of recklessly causing a fire of a structure or forest, with a special allegation that the blaze caused more than $6 million in losses. An arraignment was set for Sept. 9.
According to charging documents, Marfil admitted to Cal Fire investigators that he disposed of hot ashes into a burn pile, which investigators say ignited the fire on Pickett Road on Aug. 21, 2025.
The fire burned for 17 days, destroying one residence and four outbuildings. Cal Fire’s investigation found the blaze started from hot ashes disposed of in a burn pile between contiguous properties owned by Jayson Woodbridge’s Hundred Acre Wines company.
Marfil was working as a contracted gardener when the fire broke out, according to a spokesperson for Hundred Acre Wines. He had been 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.
The fire that burned for 17 days
When the fire broke out, about 100 residents were evacuated and Napa County declared a local emergency. The blaze threatened wineries and vineyards across the eastern hills, including Poggi Wines, Eisele Vineyard, Venge Vineyards and Kenefick Ranch.
The fire left a mark on harvest season. Napa Valley Vintners said at the time that no damage to vineyards had been reported even as crews worked the fire lines.
A costly aftermath
The county agricultural commissioner’s office said preliminary reports showed roughly $65 million in agricultural losses from the fire, most of it to wine grapes, with some damage to beehives also reported. Three winemakers have filed suit against Woodbridge and his company, alleging smoke from the wildfire ruined their harvests.
If convicted, Marfil faces multiple years in prison. The case could shape how employer and contractor liability is treated for wildfire starts in a region still marked by the 2020 Glass Fire, which burned about 67,000 acres across Napa and Sonoma counties.
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