Downtown Petaluma is on edge after a series of suspicious early morning fires lit up the quiet pre-dawn hours this week, leaving neighbors sleepless and business owners nervously checking their security feeds. An arson investigator is now on the case as police work to figure out whether the fires are the work of the same person or just a very unnerving coincidence.
Across two nights, three separate fires popped up in and around downtown: an abandoned RV burning on North McDowell Boulevard, a brush fire by the river near the Grocery Outlet, and a small vegetation fire on North Water Street. No one was hurt, and officials have not reported any major property damage, but the pattern alone has residents paying closer attention to what is happening on their blocks.
The first fire hit around 3:22 a.m. Wednesday in the 400 block of North McDowell Boulevard, where firefighters arrived to find an abandoned recreational vehicle fully engulfed in flames. Crews later confirmed the RV was unoccupied…