Protest Feared in Two Oregon Fires

The FBI on Tuesday began investigating whether a radical environmentalist organization was responsible for a fire ignited by explosives that destroyed two buildings and several vehicles at a tree nursery.

And Seattle fire officials determined late Tuesday that arson was to blame for a fire that gutted laboratories and offices at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture, about 150 miles to the north.

Both fires were reported about 3:20 a.m. Monday. No one was hurt.

“It’s too early to say that those two things are connected,” FBI agent Ray Lauer said. “If [the Seattle fire] turns out to be a politically motivated arson, then we’re interested. Then we have to look to see if it’s connected with anything else.”

In the Oregon fire, about half a dozen pickups, all-terrain vehicles and a semitrailer at Jefferson Poplar Farms were destroyed along with an equipment storage building and a maintenance building, the Oregon State Police said.

A number of undetonated explosives were found by arson investigators near the nursery’s office building. Officials declined to describe the devices.

The letters “ELF” were written on the side of a building, as was the phrase “You cannot control what is wild,” said FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele.

The Earth Liberation Front is a shadowy group that, since 1996, has claimed responsibility for arson attacks against commercial entities that the radicals say threaten or damage the environment.

On Monday afternoon, ELF spokesman Craig Rosebraugh said: “At this point, the ELF has not officially claimed responsibility. But I wouldn’t be surprised if an official statement came out.” Rosebraugh has said he is not an ELF member and only reports its activities.

Similar graffiti was not found at the horticulture center in Seattle, investigators said.

The fire destroyed decades of work and records for some teachers and researchers.

“Rational people do not do this,” said H.D. “Toby” Bradshaw, a professor at the urban horticulture center. “If it was a personal scientific dispute, we’d be debating this in a public forum.”

Bradshaw said previous owners of the tree nursery were affiliated with a university-based group called the Poplar Molecular Genetics Cooperative.