Cold Trial

It was the largest arson investigation Orange County has ever seen, at one time involving 14 full-time investigators from local, state and federal agencies. All told, 488 tips poured in, furiously at first, then slowing to a trickle.

But six years after a firestorm raged through Laguna Beach and burned 441 homes, investigators said they doubt that the arsonist who set one of the most destructive brush fires in California history will be found.

Yet, like fire itself, hope flares from time to time that they will get the clue that cracks the case.

The latest came in May when someone went door to door across Laguna Beach, handing out fliers advertising a 238-page manifesto posted on the Internet. The dissertation set out to “expose who the arsonists are,” the fliers said.

Investigators downloaded the hefty document and reviewed it word by word. But they found no solid evidence and discovered that they had thoroughly investigated the manifesto’s author years ago.

“There was nothing that we could put our hands on,” said Capt. Ed Hardy, who handled the case for the Orange County Fire Authority.

“Even after six years, we’re still passionate about this [case]. So many people lost their homes,” said Hardy, who provided details of the case last week.

Although officials today are no closer to knowing who set the fire than they were on the blustery afternoon of Oct. 27, 1993, they do have a general theory about its origin.

The fire was ignited by an open flame, such as a lighted match, off Laguna Canyon Road between the highway and a fence, Hardy said. The culprit probably lit a piece of paper or some other combustible material and placed it in the brush, he added.

“It was nothing sophisticated,” he said.

The fire started too far from the road to have been set by someone carelessly flicking a cigarette or match out a car window, Hardy said.

The fire also began at the top of a small ridge, and anything pitched from a car would have rolled into the swale--not up the hill.

“In a fire investigation, you actually work backward. You eliminate things,” Hardy said “There were no overhead power lines. There were no vehicle tracks. . . . We came to one conclusion: that someone [deliberately] started the fire.”

As hope of catching the arsonist faded over the years, the investigation was declared “inactive,” its files boxed and archived. But the case continues to haunt those whose lives were marked by the firestorm that ultimately charred nearly 26 square miles of Laguna Beach.

“It was an evil day,” recalled Mickey Ford, who watched for more than three hours as the fire spread closer and closer to her Mystic Hills home before devouring it. “The winds were blowing 60 miles per hour, they were vicious winds. There was a violence to it. Fire has no soul; it will attack.”

Two Southern California Edison workers who saw the fire in its early stages tried to stop it, Hardy said. They used pressurized water from their truck to douse the flames and at one point even tried to stamp it out. He later saw prints from their work boots in the charred field.

“They attacked the fire because, in their minds, they thought they had a chance,” Hardy said. “Due to the winds, the fire got away from them.”

*

Scores of residents, some standing on their roofs fighting the blaze with hoses, watched helplessly as towers of flame roared up the hillside and engulfed homes. There were no deaths.

Nearly 2,000 fire personnel were involved. The flames were brought under control the next day.

Angry and bereft, homeowners wanted the arsonist brought to justice. Investigators worked up to 16 hours a day and sometimes awoke in the middle of the night to take calls from possible witnesses.

An apparent break came about a year later, when 26-year-old Jose Soto Martinez, suspected in a string of arsons in Fullerton, confessed to the crime. But officials later determined that he had been in a Mexican jail at the time of the Laguna Beach blaze, and charges relating to that fire were dropped.

Of the hundreds of clues investigators chased, Hardy said, some of the most credible involved a black Pontiac Fiero seen near an Anaheim fire the previous day. Authorities saw similarities between the two fires and suspected they were set by the same person.

“We actually blanketed Laguna Canyon Road, passing out fliers asking, ‘If you see anything, give us a call,’ ” he said. “We were able to narrow down the list of people who [initially] saw the fire.”

But investigators did not get any closer. Tips included an account of a gun-toting man “with a bad complexion, who bragged about setting fires,” according to records. One caller told of “someone throwing an object down the hill and then dancing around.” Another told investigators simply that a “person riding bike fits typical profile of arsonist,” without specifying what a typical arsonist might be like, Hardy said.

The leads had all but dried up by 1996, when the three-year statute of limitations expired. But officials continued to check out any clues, working on the assumption that whoever set the fire may be responsible for later blazes.

Arson cases are among the toughest to crack, and only a tiny portion ever get solved, Hardy said.

“I still think about the people who lost everything. I think about the homes that still haven’t been rebuilt,” Hardy said. “I think about how we really would have liked to catch the guy and put him off the street.”

The blaze forever changed not only the lives of residents in the seaside enclave but the way entire communities are developed. Stucco and tile have replaced wood siding and shake roofs. Vegetation, which in the dry season is food for fire, is routinely cleared. Streets were widened to accommodate firetrucks.

“Fire and landscape are indigenous here. They go hand in hand,” said Battalion Chief Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority. “What has been borne out of that tragedy is a clear understanding of the importance of how a community can be built within a fire-prone area.”

About three-quarters of the homes have been rebuilt, officials estimated. In Mystic Hills, among the worst-hit areas, about 85% of the homes have been rebuilt, said City Manager Kenneth C. Frank, who lives in the area. Five percent are in the process of being rebuilt, while 10% of the lots still sit empty, he said.

Although the city doesn’t keep statistics on turnover of properties, a “meaningful percentage, probably over 20%” of the 1993 homeowners have sold and moved, said Kyle Butterwick, community development director for Laguna Beach.

“The vast majority of the properties have been replaced, and the neighborhood has been substantially upgraded,” Butterwick said.

New families have moved into the neighborhood, now dotted with stylish custom-built homes that sell for upward of $1 million. The hillside itself is green again.

“I have not thought about it,” Frank said, referring to the arsonist. “I have not worried about it. . . . Others might be worried, but as for me, I don’t know, I just haven’t thought about it.”

Mickey Ford, who with her husband rebuilt her burned home, said her neighborhood has moved on as well.

“The big word is blame. Everyone wants someone to blame,” Ford said. “But at a certain point you have to let go. And just get over it.”

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Searing Memory

Six years ago, a firestorm fed by the Santa Ana winds destroyed hundreds of homes and ultimately changed the way communities within fire-prone areas are developed

THE COST

* 12,000 acres burned in seven hours, 16,864 total (about 26 square miles)

* 441 homes damaged or destroyed

* Estimated losses, $528 million

* 1,968 fire personnel, 75 trucks, several helicopters and air tankers deployed

* Six firefighters injured

Sources: Times reports