Explosions rattle valley residents

The Marin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating reports of explosions in the San Geronimo Valley.

The department received repeated calls from residents at about 10 p.m. Jan. 17 in the 5000 block of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. A deputy found evidence that a device damaged a large tree, said sheriff’s Sgt. Brenton Schneider.

”We are continuing to follow up on the evidence we have gathered from the scene and on the numerous phone calls we have received,” the department stated in a notice to residents last week.

Residents have been sharing stories on social media about mysterious sounds. Marion Patterson, who lives in Novato, said friends living in the valley report that explosions have been heard “every night between 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.”

“All of the residents are incredibly concerned and people are starting to get scared,” she said. “They have been so intense that it has been shaking houses.”

Donna Renaud of San Geronimo said she began hearing the sounds around Dec. 14. She records the sounds every time her family hears them.

“They’re always at night, and they always seem to be between 9 to 11 p.m.,” Renaud said.

Her daughter Hayley Newman said the sounds seem to be from the area of Nicasio Valley Road and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. She said she once saw flash as the explosion happened.

Renaud said when she heard the explosion on Jan. 17, it was louder than ever.

“I thought our windows were going to just blow out,” she said. “Our pets are just petrified by that sound.”

Since that night and the announcement of the investigation, she said she has not heard any more explosions.

Amy Jacob, also of San Geronimo, said she started hearing explosions earlier than December, and checked with neighbors about them.

“In the last six weeks, I started hearing them nightly,” Jacob said. “At first I thought it was a shotgun, but it was always only one — one explosion and done.”

Jacob said she is worried about wildfire danger from the explosions.

“There’s a lot of trees and things that could go up in a heartbeat,” she said.