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Police are investigating an arson at Petaluma's Fishman Supply Company last week as a hate crime.

Tipped off by a neighbor, Leland Fishman arrived at the family-owned business around 9:30 p.m. March 15 to find firefighters spraying two blazing trucks. The words "Die, Jew" had been painted on a third. Police had also arrived and were already treating the yard as a crime scene.

The janitorial supplier, on the 1300 block of Industrial Avenue, serves a wide radius, including much of Sonoma County, Marin and the East Bay.

With a fleet of five trucks in all, one destroyed vehicle and another badly damaged one put a big dent in business, said Greg Fishman, who works as a media representative for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and was helping his brother field calls from the media.

The company, founded in 1967 by former chicken ranchers Saul and Rose Fishman, was profiled in the book "Comrades and Chicken Ranchers," about Petaluma's historic Jewish community. Rose Fishman died two years ago.

Saul Fishman, now 81, has turned over much of the responsibility for the company to his son Leland. In a phone call on March 16 to the Anti-Defamation League, Saul Fishman said he had "no idea" who would want to target him for abuse.

Petaluma is "not an area where we've had a history of trouble" in recent years, said Jonathan Bernstein, executive director of the ADL Central Pacific region. "But we've seen a dramatic increase in incidents of this sort throughout the Bay Area."

Bernstein said a reward fund is being established.

"When a Jewish family's business in Petaluma is violently targeted with accompanying words that read, 'Die Jew,' the crime affects more than just this family," he said. "Hate crimes, by their very nature, take an emotional toll on all people, like the victim."

The family, including the elder Fishman, his four sons and their families, were "shocked and horrified," Greg Fishman said. "Not only because it's an attack on our business. We pride ourselves on running an ethical business. We've lived peacefully in Petaluma as Jews for 81 years. That it can happen here, and in these times, is pretty upsetting."

The Petaluma Fire Department has assessed the damage to the totaled truck at $25,000, but Greg Fishman said it will cost much more than that to replace it. The business is also incurring extra costs in lost delivery time and truck rentals to cover the gap.

Greg Fishman added that family members are not sure how to respond since they don't know the motive of the perpetrator, "and frankly that's frustrating."

Although "this was definitely anti-Semitic and a violently anti-Semitic message, we can't ignore the fact that it may mean something less sinister," he said. "You never know who might have a grudge against you, although I wouldn't have guessed that anyone does."

Calls to the Petaluma Police Department were not returned by press time.

But Bernstein said he was encouraged by "the swift and thorough action" of the department and "is confident that the perpetrator or perpetrators will be apprehended."