Green Homes Go Up In Smoke Near Seattle

MALTBY, WA - Radical environmentalists are suspected of torching three multimillion-dollar show homes Monday that developers had touted as examples of "green building." The pre-dawn blazes near Maltby, a rural suburb about 25 miles northeast of Seattle, destroyed three furnished 4,200- to 4,750-square-foot homes, built at the end of a wooded cul-de-sac as part of a luxury home development featured in the "Street of Dreams" home tour. Two other houses were damaged by smoke.

Police and FBI investigators said a spray-painted sign, bearing the initials of the Earth Liberation Front, mocked developers' claims that the homes were environmentally friendly. "Built Green?" the sign read. "Nope black! McMansions in RCDs (rural development clusters) r not green. ELF."

The attack coincided with the high-profile trial of a former member of the ELF now in its fourth week in Tacoma, south of Seattle. Briana Waters, 32, of Oakland , faces up to 35 years in prison for a 2001 arson committed by the group, which investigators call a "domestic terrorist organization."

It was clear the fires were deliberately set, according to Rick Eastman, fire chief of Snohomish County District 7. Eastman said he held back his firefighters, allowing the blazes to burn out, for fear the homes might have been booby-trapped. No injuries were reported. Incendiary devices were found inside the homes, fire officials said, and the fires will be investigated as acts of domestic terrorism.

Despite a nationwide housing slowdown, home construction in some Seattle suburbs, particularly in communities north and east of Lake Washington, has continued unabated. The homes were part of a planned development and were featured by Street of Dreams in the summer.

While many cities host tours of luxury homes, Seattle's Street of Dreams claims to be "the most popular and highest attended single site luxury home and garden tour in the U.S." The homes on the tour are often grouped by themes - in this case, "green building." After a period in which the public can buy tickets to tour them, the homes are put up for sale.

The builders promoted the "Built Green" concept and pointed out that they were smaller than the 10,000-square-foot homes on previous Street of Dreams tours. To get the Built Green designation, the homes had to sell for less than $2 million and have "green" elements.

The Earth Liberation Front is a collection of loosely organized cells made up of radical environmentalists and animal-rights advocates. Members tend to be young, politically aware and educated. From 1996 to 2001, the group went on a tear in the West, setting off fires and explosions in a number of states.