Fire At Petaluma Care Home Prompts Evacuations

PETALUMA, CA — Some 60 residents of a Petaluma care home were evacuated Sunday afternoon when a fire broke out in the facility's laundry room, fire officials said. The blaze at Adobe House Memory Care Community, 750 N. McDowell Blvd., was reported at 3:54 p.m. Sunday and when the first fire unit arrived within four minutes, smoke was showing from a roof vent, according to Petaluma fire Battalion Chief Jeff Holden.

All Petaluma fire units were dispatched to the scene, where crews helped evacuate residents while assisting others with sheltering in place, Holden said.

The battalion chief said the source of the fire was determined to be a dryer in the facility's laundry room. The building's sprinkler system was activated and held the fire to the dryer; meanwhile, Holden said, firefighters set up hose lines and extinguished the blaze, bringing it under control by 4:11 p.m.

All told, he said the fire caused an estimated $30,000 in damages: $10,000 to the building and $20,000 to its contents, including the dryer.

There were no reported injuries and residents were allowed back in the building once the area was secured and clean-up was mostly complete, according to Holden.

The battalion chief noted that while all Petaluma units were assigned to the fire, one medical aid call elsewhere in the city was handled by Rancho Adobe.

"Due to other fire activity in the county, we were unable to backfill our fire stations for this event," Holden said.

By 5:26 p.m., however, all Petaluma units were back at their stations, he said.

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