SHELTER IN A NAPA FIRESTORM

When asked how things are going, Garrett Busch (MBA '10, MGT '09) answers with a date: "It's October 19. And we're returning to normalcy."

It's obvious, even over the phone, that he's marking today as a reference point — comparing it to October 8, the day devastating wildfires started in Napa Valley.

Busch initially wasn't concerned at the news, because the fire started on the opposite side of the Valley. But by noon the next day, he and his wife, Betsy Busch (MSA '11, ACCT '10), decided she should take the couple's 21-month-old triplets and two-week-old daughter to a friend's outside the Valley.

Busch stayed behind to keep an eye on the family's businesses, Trinitas Cellars winery and the Meritage Resort & Spa, which ultimately were spared the devastation that struck so many others.

Beyond that, he discovered an opportunity to help.

As the fires spread, tourists canceled reservations at the 322-room Meritage. Busch immediately offered the empty rooms to locals for $99 a night — a far cry from the $350–$450 usual nightly rate in October, when grapes are crushed into wine.

The Meritage also offered three meals a day to the public and invited Valley residents to use the hotel's power to contact family, receive emergency updates and take the first steps to pull their lives together.

"At night, I'm pouring glasses of wine and the guests are crying, saying how grateful they are," Busch says. "I couldn't believe it because they had lost everything. A group of them wrote us a thank-you letter. They had lost their homes, and yet they were worried about writing a thank-you letter. We were just so glad to give our guests some level of security."

Today, even as the nearby wildfires have been finally contained or extinguished, life is not quite normal yet. Forty fire trucks are parked in the Meritage lot. First responders, who had been subsisting by eating and sleeping in their trucks, are staying at the resort. Wine country tourists are trickling in, but there are still rooms occupied by victims of the fires.

While Busch does not downplay the devastation of the fire, he emphasizes that most wineries and businesses were not damaged and that tourism, the lifeblood of the Valley, is more important than ever.

"Napa Valley didn't burn to the ground," he says. "Looking out my window, you can't see any evidence of fire. If you want to help, the best thing you can do is plan a trip to Napa or order wine online. Families rely on the income from tourism.

"Please, come and drink wine and enjoy yourselves."

TrinitasCellars.com | MeritageCollection.com