An employee has resigned from Petaluma’s fire department and others are set to be disciplined after an investigation prompted by an anonymous letter that detailed alleged sexual misconduct involving fire personnel at the agency’s downtown headquarters.
The unsigned letter, which was sent to the city manager and the fire chief in late December, alleges that a six-month long spate of “gross misconduct” took place at Petaluma Fire Department Station 1 on D Street. The letter states that young personnel brought in a Petaluma woman in her early 20s during the late night and early morning hours for strip teases and sex acts, some of which occurred on or in fire apparatus.
It alleges that photos taken and disseminated among staff depict the woman in “various states of undress,” in the station, sometimes clad solely in Petaluma Fire Department gear.