Suspicious fires destroy 3 Street of Dreams homes, damage 2, in Snohomish County

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

Source: Seattle Timews

Officials are blaming "domestic terrorism" for fires early today that destroyed three multi-million-dollar homes and damaged two others built as part of last year's Seattle Street of Dreams in the Maltby area of Snohomish County.

Damage was estimated at $7 million.

Explosive devices were found inside the homes. And nearby, a spray-painted sign bearing the initials of the Earth Liberation Front, challenged builders' assertion that the homes featured environmentally responsible construction methods.


Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004256586_webdreamsfire03m.html

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This is the jump:

Officials blame fires on "domestic terrorism"

The morning blazes destroyed three Street of Dreams homes and damaged two others at a development in Snohomish County. Officials stopped short of blaming the Earth Liberation Front, but admitted finding a sign with the group's initials.

[tnlurker]

1. What is the chance that the builders

Torched to houses and pointed the fingers at the "eco-terroristic" to throw the authorities off?

[phantom power]

3. I rate that chance as very high.

[movonne]

5. Ditto...

[thunder rising]

19. Like how long had they been sitting empty? Whats the cost of keeping them? Those little questions

The "authorities" will round up the usual suspects and get one of them to "confess".

[Delphinus]

10. That's the *EXACT*

same question I asked the radio when I heard this - didn't get any answer, but it's good to know I'm not the only one who thinks this.

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. If Joe Sixpack can torch his SUV in the woods, so can

big buck developers do something similar when they're in a financal jam.

Follow the money (or lack of it)

I sense more to this than meets the eye.

[PSPS]

12. No more "toxic" Alt-A mortgage gravy train. So bring in the "eco-tera-ists."

I'm glad to see this level of skepticism on here. I hope it's universal.

[NashVegas]

13. We Had a Luxury Homebuilder File For Bankruptcy

Two weeks ago, in the Nashville area. Not super-super lux, but fairly super. $380-$650s, I'm thinking.

[nashville_brook]

15. i guarantee it -- this has actually already happened a few years ago...

a dispute btwn developers iirc. someone torched the other's development and blamed "ecoterrorists."

sucks that the "eco-terror" meme is being reported without any temperance.

[peacebird]

18. Had the builders SOLD the homes? Gotten past closing? If not then I think the Builders

look very interesting as potential culprits...

[alfredo]

24. They couldn't blame it on lightning.

[eridani]

27. Given the real estate meltdown, I'd say 50/50

Not as bad here as in So Cal, though, so I'm not really sure.

[DJ13]

2. In todays depressed housing market I could see arson as a way out for some home builders

It would be pretty easy to spray paint ELF on the building as a means to throw arson investigators off the trail of the builders setting fire to unsold property.

[liberaltrucker]

4. Torched, pure and simple

ELF would NEVER leave a calling card.

[goforit]

8. But Osama would.......

:sarcasm:

[phantom power]

6. We used to have a thing called "investigative reporting."

where a reporter would do something nutsy like look into whether the builder was having trouble selling, or was overextended, or otherwise had motivation to try and torch those properties for the insurance.

Or, we could just call it "domestic terrorism" and hit happy hour.
:eyes:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Welcome to the Seattle Times.

RNCJ- Repeat News Conference Journalism

[Hannah Bell]

14. the other

article said none of the homes had been sold - sitting empty a while...

[uppityperson]

9. Ricin in a hotel isn't terrorism though. Sigh.

[nashville_brook]

16. eggsactly.

[NashVegas]

17. Oooh. More Info

From a 2007 story:

Called Quinn's Crossing, and selected to be the site of the 2007 Street of Dreams developer show, the development will be home to nearly 50 families once completed. What's troubling some residents nearby is the impact those families could have on the aquifer, which is the drinking-water source for the area's Cross Valley Water District.

Because of the land's location in rural Snohomish County, the luxury homes will be built using septic systems with drain fields ending very close to critical areas such as the wetlands. While wetlands are a good way to dilute pollutants before groundwater enters an aquifer, residents fear the natural system will be overloaded by the septic arrangement.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/snohomishcountynews/2003638485_quinn28n0.html

Add to that the lawn chemicals that would probably come into use ... at first I wondered, like others, if this was arson to collect insurance but these were apparently all different contractors / developers. Still, worth noting the houses have been sitting empty since summer.

[pfitz59]

20. I live in Snohomish County....

Repug Supervisors are getting voted out because they've consistently chosen development over conservation. Many of the proposed developments are in areas with no supporting infrastructure. The impact on aquifers, fish, wildlife, fire, sewer, electrical distribution and public safety is enormous! One genius wants to slap 5000 homes onto a tree-farm in the middle of nowhere, and bill the county for road improvements and other necessities! The urban growth zone has plenty of room for higher density development, but greedy construction types want to buy cheaper farm and forest land and pave it over! I don't condone arson as a political tactic, but understand where the ELf is coming from.....

[allthatjazz]

21. You must be talking about Lake Roesiger?

My first thought was that blaming this fire on ELF was a little to convenient. But it sounds like there were some conflicts going on in the area. Hope they figure out who did it!

[pfitz59]

22. Lake Roesiger.. and

a new plan up by Lake Goodwin! Roesiger plan is insane!

[pfitz59]

23. Also.....

Don't forget the attempts to develop the Snohomish and Stillaguamish flood-plains!

[allthatjazz]

25. I completely agree with you!!!

[peacetheonlyway]

26. Anybody have a problem with term "Domestic terrorism"

it sound a little too much like 'enemy combatant'

a term vague enough that you can paint anyone with the same brush.

Domestic terrorism... to me that looks like a suicide bomber killing civilians rather than an activist group making perhaps a righteous statement on the opulent growth of a Builders who wouldn't know green building if it bit them in the ass.

if anything that no one was hurt shows remarkably 'unlike' terrorists are remarkably more like calculating revolutionaries.

hmmmm... how soon before not showing up to work makes you a domestic terrorist.

[LeftyMom]

28. It's a term built on the assumption that terrorists are foreign by default.

Remember when the Oklahoma City Federal Building was attacked, and the first conclusion the media jumped to was that it must be radical muslims from the middle east (a rather strange assumption in the mid-90's, I guess based on the earlier truck bomb attack on the WTC.) They seemed shocked- SCHOCKED!- when it became clear that all those people got blown up by a couple of white, Christian Americans, though that's precisely who commits most terroristic acts on American soil, if you look at history.