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OSP finds arson proof at fire site Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Steve Swanson, president of Superior Lumber in Glendale, checks out damage from a fire that destroyed the company�s offices this week. Oregon State Police investigators found proof Thursday that the fire was arson. By Paul Fattig GLENDALE � State Police have confirmed that arson sparked a fire that roared through the Superior Lumber Co. office early Tuesday morning, causing more than $400,000 in damage. "There have been multiple points of origin found by our investigators," said Lt. Greg Hastings, spokesman for the OSP, lead agency in the investigation. "Because of that and other evidence, it is now being investigated as an arson," he said Thursday afternoon. "Right now, we have no individuals claiming responsibility and no witnesses." Hastings would not comment on other evidence found at the scene. The fire was reported at 2:15 a.m. Tuesday. The FBI, the State Fire Marshal�s Office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are assisting four OSP arson investigators in the case. A similar fire set Dec. 28, 1998, destroyed the administrative offices of U.S. Forest Industries in Medford. An extremist environmental group which calls itself the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) later claimed credit for that fire. Two other suspicious fires in recent years have destroyed the Boise Cascade Corp. office in Monmouth and a Forest Service office in Oakridge. Jay Lininger, spokesman for the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, said his environmental group is opposed to arson, but understands what drives the arsonists. "It�s a shame � my heart goes out to the people affected," he said. "But Superior is responsible for lots of forest destruction in the area. "Maybe the arsonist thought this would balance things a little," he added. "We don�t agree with the tactic, but we don�t criticize the outcome, either." The fire did not stop operations of the family-owned company, said Steve Swanson, president of Superior. "If it was caused by a group opposed to our operations, this is not the way to resolve differences," he said, adding that his firm has always followed environmental laws. Neither the sawmill shift that started at 5 a.m. nor the plywood mill shift that began at 7 a.m. Tuesday was hindered by the fire, Swanson said. "Those employees haven�t missed a beat," he said. But he added that two dozen people employed in the office weren�t able to return to work until Wednesday. Those workers are now working out of office space in modular units adjacent to the burned building. About 400 people are employed by the firm. "Our computer systems are salvageable and our records � although smoke and water damaged � are salvageable," Swanson said. "We working to salvage them now." Swanson would not speculate on the cause of the fire that destroyed the 6,000-square-foot building. The fire appears to have burned exceedingly hot in several locations, burning all the way through the roof. "We have not received any call here, and I don�t want to speculate that the same group (ELF) is involved," he said. Swanson gave credit to the local volunteer fire department for stopping the blaze quickly. "Their response was extremely fast � they had the fire under control in 30 minutes," he said. The fire followed on the heels of a favorable court decision for Superior. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle had given the go-ahead just before Christmas for Superior to resume harvest of trees that had already been felled in the Isabella and Poor Bishop sales in the BLM�s Medford District near Ruch. The two sales were among nearly 180 sales in the Pacific Northwest that were stopped by Rothstein, who granted an injunction after finding that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) failed to follow environmental regulations when it released 20 biological opinions that cleared the way for logging the units. Superior began removing the downed trees at the two sales on Saturday, according to Don Ferguson, spokesman for the BLM�s Medford District. Because of the injunction, the company is not allowed to return to full-scale logging on the sales that originally contained some 15 million board feet of timber. The fact the arson occurred two days after the firm resumed harvesting the felled trees is cause to wonder if there is a connection, said Dave Hill, executive vice president of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association based in Medford. "It�s clear that environmental terrorism is at work with these arson fires," he said. "How broadly supported it is is hard to say. I hope it�s not widely accepted as a reaction to timber management on federal and private lands." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.