ECHO LAKE — Federal investigators have not yet determined whether a shadowy group of environmental extremists is responsible for arsons that caused $7 million damage Monday to a neighborhood of luxury homes here, officials said today.
A bed sheet marked with the initials ELF — short for Earth Liberation Front — was found at the fire scene.
A similar banner claiming ELF responsibility was found at the scene of a 2006 arson that destroyed a luxury home under construction on Camano Island.
The similarities between the fires are under investigation, and the banner found Monday is being scrutinized by forensic experts for clues, said Kelvin Crenshaw, special agent in charge for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“The banners are the consistent things. I think that is far as I’m willing to go,” he said.
The banner found Monday contained anti-development message along with ELF’s initials.
Federal agents have begun the complex process of searching for clues among the rubble of three luxury homes that were gutted by fire Monday. Investigators call the arsons potentials acts of of domestic terrorism, but don’t rule out other potential explanations, officials said.
Contrary to reports at the scene Monday, firefighters did not find evidence of explosive devices inside the unoccupied houses, Crenshaw said. Instead, the fires appeared to have been set using items found in the homes, he said.
“It’s paper. It’s wood. Whatever you can gather together and light a match,” Crenshaw said.
The vacant houses had been a part of the 2007 Street of Dreams, an annual tour of multimillion-dollar houses. These houses had been advertised as being environmentally friendly.
ELF activists are believed to be responsible for arsons in Snohomish and on Camano Island that destroyed homes and several attempts at other housing projects in recent years, including one not far from Monday’s arsons.
Investigators haven’t confirmed that the banner was left by ELF.
“We don’t know what the motive is. Is it terrorism or arson for profit? We don’t know,” FBI spokesman Fred Gutt said. “We may not know if it was terrorism until we solve it.”
Acting in secrecy, the Earth Liberation Front is an international group that uses violent means to protest actions its members deem harmful to the environment. There isn’t a leader; activists generally work in small cells and may not know anyone else in any other cells.
“It’s not an organization like we think of one,” said Gary Perlstein, a criminology professor at Portland State University in Oregon who has studied and written about the group.
He suspects that if the arsons are the work of ELF, someone will send out an e-mail to the media within the week to take responsibility for the arsons.
The fires and tactics fit those perpetrated by ELF in the past, Perlstein said.
He suspects that the ongoing criminal prosecution of people accused of the 2001 firebombing the University of Washington’s horticulture center and the capture of an Oregon man accused of sabotaging logging and cement trucks may have sparked Monday’s arsons.
Meanwhile investigators, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force, have begun to look for evidence. They’ll use specially-trained dogs to search for accelerants and other clues. The evidence likely will be sent to the lab ran by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Rewards totaling $110,000 are being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for Monday’s arsons. Anyone with information is asked to call 206-622-0460.
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