Students Behind Laguna School Blaze, Police Believe

Investigators had no suspects Monday in the weekend fire that caused $250,000 damage at Laguna Beach High School but said they believe that students at the school probably are responsible.

Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Paul Workman, who is heading the investigation, said it “has not led to any suspects. We’re hoping that someone will call in with information. We’re fairly certain that students left the markings.”

Several walls bore the markings “666,” numbers that have been linked to devil worship, and “Black Sabbath,” the name of a heavy metal rock band.

However, Workman said it was unlikely that whoever defaced the walls was actually “a demon lover.”

‘All Kinds of Ideas’

“These kids get into different things, so when somebody sees something like ‘Black Sabbath’ painted on the wall, they get all kinds of ideas into their head,” he said. “Whoever did this was just into punk rock or heavy metal.”

The fire began about 12:30 a.m. Sunday after a flammable liquid was splashed over cabinet files and desks in an office where test scores and other records were stored, Workman said.

It took 40 firefighters two hours to control the blaze. Fire Chief Harvey Boelts said one reason for the difficulty in quelling the fire was the heavy timber used to construct the 1930s building.

The Spanish-language office was gutted, Principal Dave Wheeler said Monday. Two classrooms were heavily damaged; two others had smoke damage.

The fire damage did not prevent classes Monday. Wheeler said a large dance hall was used for two classes. Classes in Junior ROTC were switched outdoors.

“We made those decisions Sunday morning, even before the firefighters left, so that we could go on with our work uninterrupted,” Wheeler said.

He said the biggest problem would be replacing files and reading materials lost in the blaze.

“We have lost everything, all the reading materials for these classes. We have to find a way to replace them as soon as we can,” Wheeler said.

The principal also said a “former or current student” was probably responsible for the fire. He said school administrators would review records to determine what students have been in trouble recently.

Wheeler said the students “were upset and angry over this. This is not a student body that condones this kind of behavior.”