ABC7 Eyewitness News obtained video showing multiple Tesla vehicles burning behind the dealership.
Arson suspected after fire wrecks cars at Marin Tesla dealership
Neighbors reported hearing loud explosions before seeing flames. "I wake up, put a shirt on," said neighbor Obduleo Ortintes, who lives next to the dealership. "My wife said, 'What happened?' There's a fire in the Tesla dealership. We went to the window. Two cars on fire."
Emergency dispatchers received reports of the fire shortly after 4:20 a.m. Monday.
"We just transferred two callers that were providing information that a Tesla exploded and is on fire at the dealership," a dispatcher can be heard saying on police radio traffic.
According to Central Marin Fire Battalion Chief Brian Peterson, firefighters arrived to find one vehicle burning in the rear lot, with flames spreading to nearby cars.
"First arriving units found one vehicle front-end involved in a fire, impinging on three others around it in the rear lot here," Peterson said.
Firefighters were able to contain the blaze before it reached the vehicles' main battery packs.
"We caught it before it hit the main battery," Peterson said. "The plastics are unhealthy, but as of now, no threat to the public."
Yellow police tape now surrounds the damaged vehicles.
At least two Teslas sustained significant damage, and one appeared to be completely gutted by the fire. Investigators with the Marin County Fire Investigation Team are now working to determine exactly what caused the blaze.
"As of right now, it's under investigation. However, it does not appear accidental," Peterson said. "Details will come out at the conclusion of that."
The Corte Madera Tesla dealership was among several Tesla locations around the Bay Area that were the site of protests in 2025 targeting CEO Elon Musk's involvement with the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency.
Investigators, however, have not identified a motive in Monday's fire and have not said whether the vehicles were deliberately set ablaze.
Residents who witnessed the fire said the incident was unsettling.
"It was loud?" an ABC7's Cornell Barnard asked Ortintes.
"Hella loud," he replied.
No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, and no arrests have been announced.