Fire Damages Garage At Historic Petaluma Home

PETALUMA, CA — A fire broke out Monday in the detached garage of a residential property on a street lined with historic homes, according to the Petaluma Fire Department.

The blaze was reported at 12:36 p.m. in the 200 block of Seventh Street. An engine crew, a medic unit and a battalion chief were on the scene within 4 minutes and found smoke coming from a detached garage of a two-story home, Petaluma FD Battalion Chief Mike Medeiros said.

The battalion chief saw heavy smoke driven by wind and requested an upgrade to a "working fire" response which triggered additional engines to cover the city, Medeiros said.

Additional resources from Petaluma Fire and Rancho Adobe Fire soon arrived and crews gained control of the fire within 10 minutes.

The Sonoma Valley Fire District also assisted with the incident.

The City of Petaluma Building Department and PG&E evaluated the detached garage for safety and placed a "red tag" restricting its use.

Fire personnel remained at the scene for two hours and 39 minutes.

The Petaluma Fire Prevention Bureau was still investigating the cause of the fire.

"The Petaluma Fire Department would like to take this moment to remind our residents that having functioning smoke alarms inside all buildings at their property will not only alert occupants of a possible fire, often before smoke is seen or smelled, but will also allow occupants more time to escape the structure in case of an emergency safely," Medeiros said.

The Petaluma Fire Department also thanked its fellow police and building departments for responding to the scene and providing support.

"Additionally, we would like to acknowledge and thank our surrounding partners for their assistance during the incident and for providing station coverage for the emergencies that did occur during the structure fire," Medeiros said.