Officials blame San Diego fires on arson

Officials blame San Diego fires on arson



The Associated Press
September 19, 2003

By ELLIOT SPAGAT

SAN DIEGO (AP)

One of several banners found at the sites in north San Diego read: "Development destruction. Stop raping nature. The ELFs are angry."

ELF stands for the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmentalist group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of arson and vandalism, including a $50 million fire that destroyed a residential development in San Diego last month.

Fire Capt. Jeffrey Carle cautioned that the banner doesn't mean the group was involved. He declined to say how the four fires were set but said the method was the same in each one.

The ELF claim of responsibility on its Web site for Friday's fires its press office did not respond to an e-mail message.



"This is clearly an act of domestic terrorism in our city," said Police Chief Bill Lansdowne. The FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms joined the investigation.

The destroyed dwellings were a few miles north of the Aug. 1 fire that leveled a 206-unit complex under construction.

A self-proclaimed ELF member told the Los Angeles Times this week that he helped torch a Hummer dealership near Los Angeles on Aug. 22 and vandalized three other dealerships.