Rising from the ashes
A touching story, with an OSI connection, has emerged from the smoke and flames of the California wildfires.
Local and state firefighters were battling a blaze in the famed Napa Valley at the Fairwinds Estate Winery. Realizing they couldn’t contain the blaze, the firefighters were forced to evacuate—but not before removing the American flag from the pole in front of Fairwinds.
The Fremont (Calif.) Fire Department explained the action in a social media post, which included photos of the firefighters lowering the flag, obscured by smoke, and with flames consuming a Fairwinds building in the background.
“Even though we weren’t able to save the building, we never gave up,” read the post, quoting three firefighters who were at the scene. “We were able to save the flag and stay in the fight. Several properties were saved that night. The flag gave us the pride to keep going when things were at their toughest.”
The post went viral and received national media attention.
Fairwinds Estate Winery, which was heavily damaged in the fire, is a client of OSI. Despite the damage, the winery continues to operate, with help from OSI, which handles its accounting, web development, social media, tech support, and wine club calls from El Salvador. OSI has been able to provide business continuity in these areas while Fairwinds regains the lost momentum after the fire.
“The good news is no one got hurt,” Fairwinds Estate CEO Brandon Chaney told national newscast News Nation, as he toured the winery shortly after the fire. “All this is replaceable. It’s just a lot to wrap your head around (thinking about) how to rebuild this.”
Following the devastation caused by the fire, a few rays of light have shone through the darkness.
As reported by News Nation, Fairwinds Estate’s 22,000-square-foot wine cave, which housed 4,000 barrels of wine and special-events spaces, was spared by the blaze.
Also, as reported by NBC Nightly News, the firefighters returned the American flag to Chaney and Fairwinds Estate. It’s expected to fly above the property once again.
“We’re going to build back,” Cheney told News Nation. “Fairwinds is going to rise from the ashes.”
If you’d like to support Fairwinds Estate Winery’s return, please visit its website (https://wine.fewinery.com/calistogastrong ). You can order the estate’s assorted wines there and they’ll ship the order to you.
Outsourcing Services International is a Boutique Business Process Outsourcing (BBPO) service provider serving English speaking clientele in the USA and Canada. (www.osinearshore.com).