The disastrous bushfires which swept through rural California cost 40 lives and did billions of dollars damage, including the destruction of thousands of homes as well as established vineyards and wineries in the world-renowned Napa Valley in northern California. The fires followed a wet winter which encouraged plant growth, followed by a wetter than usual spring and a hot summer. In the northern autumn, hot dry winds from deserts in the interior sweep down from the Rockies towards the se…