FBI Says San Diego Blaze Likely 'Domestic Terror'
Date: 04-Aug-03
Country: USA
The three-alarm fire, which leveled a 200-unit condominium complex that was under construction, caused at least $20 million in damage after it broke out shortly before dawn last week. A 12-foot hand-painted banner found on the scene suggested members of the Earth Liberation Front, a network of environmental groups that has claimed responsibility for other fires, had set the blaze.
"It does look as we progress on (with the investigation) that the E.L.F. has taken responsibility," said Jan Caldwell, a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Diego. "That does put it in the arena of domestic terrorism."
On the weekend, the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper reported it had received an e-mail from the E.L.F. claiming responsibility. The banner found at the site read: "If you build it - we will burn it - the E.L.F.'s are mad."
The condo development was in a once-scenic canyon about five miles from downtown San Diego that has been developed over the past decade.
In addition to the FBI and local police, sheriff's and fire departments, members of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are participating in the investigation. San Diego's Joint Terrorism Task Force, an interagency operation of federal and local authorities, is being briefed, Caldwell said. About 100 dedicated investigators, including an FBI Evidence Response Team, have been put on the case, she said, although that number could grow.
Damage costs could rise to $30 million, said Lesli Halik, a spokeswoman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. Halik said that by early Saturday investigators had been unable to enter the site because of extreme temperatures generated by the inferno.
E.L.F. cells across the U.S. say they have set fire to developments they believe to be environmentally degrading. They have also attacked sport utility vehicles at dealerships.