$50-Million Fire Is Declared Arson
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A fire that destroyed a construction site of an apartment complex Friday was arson, investigators announced Tuesday.
The blaze, which led to the evacuation of 400 residents, caused about $50 million in damage, said Capt. Jeff Carle of the San Diego Fire Department’s Metro Arson Strike Team.
Officials are probing whether the radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front started the fire near UC San Diego. A banner that read, “If you build it, we will burn it,” with the initials “ELF,” was found at the site.
The group sent an e-mail saying the banner was a “legitimate claim of responsibility by the Earth Liberation Front.”
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