Girls Camp Struck by Fire Again : Crime: Guards are posted at Griffith Park facility. Authorities suspect arsonist who destroyed a lodge last week may have returned to set director’s house ablaze.

Nervous Los Angeles parks officials have posted a 24-hour guard at a Griffith Park girls camp where the arsonist who destroyed a $1.7-million lodge last week may have returned to burn down the camp director’s house.

The latest fire was set during the weekend, Recreation and Parks Department officials said. This time, the arsonist chopped up Camp Hollywoodland fire hoses to thwart those coming to fight the $100,000 residence blaze.

“We’re afraid they’re going to come back and burn cabins,” said Sheldon Jenson, assistant general manager of the department.

The camp’s 11 bunkhouses remained untouched on Wednesday, however. They are scattered in a remote canyon beneath the famous “Hollywood” sign, where the popular summer camp has been operated for 66 years.

The first fire, on May 3, destroyed the camp’s main meeting hall, a 200-seat dining room and offices. The latest blaze, on May 9, razed the home of the camp’s newly appointed director, Gary Baer.

Baer was in the process of moving into the two-bedroom house, which was a few hundred feet from the destroyed lodge. He said he lost about $5,000 worth of clothing, artwork and other personal property in the fire.

The fires have sent parks officials scrambling to salvage the upcoming summer camp-out program, scheduled to begin July 6. Ironically, recreation leaders had looked to the camp as a way of offering relief to hundreds of inner-city youngsters hoping to escape reminders of the rioting.

Ed Ferrante, supervisor of camping for the parks department, said officials will use large trailers or a circus tent to temporarily replace the dining hall. He pledged that girls attending the series of weeklong summer sessions will be safe.

The second fire disabled a fire alarm system connected to the cabins. But the alarms will be repaired and park rangers will patrol the camp while it is in session, he said. For now, the empty camp will be guarded.

“The horse is out of the barn and down the road,” Ferrante said of the destruction. “But we’re going to have people up there around the clock from now on.”

Meanwhile, offers of help in rebuilding the camp are coming from those outraged by the first fire.

Donations will be important, said Frank Catania, director of planning and development for the parks department. “There is no city money at this point” to pay for reconstruction, he said.

A spokesman for the Fire Department said Wednesday that the arson investigation is continuing. No arrests have been made.

Parks officials said they are anxious for the firebug to be caught. They speculated that the same person is responsible for both blazes.

“How sick is this? They cut the fire hoses,” Ferrante said. “I’d like to grab whoever did this by the throat.”