Street of Dreams

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Explosive devices were found inside luxury houses set ablaze Monday morning outside of Seattle, and police suspected that a well-known eco-terrorism group ignited the fires.

The multi-million-dollar development known as "Street of Dreams" in Woodinville, Wash., burst into flames in the early morning hours, and Snohomish County crews fought to contain the blaze.

The Earth Liberation Front, known for violent acts in the name of environmentalism, left a sign at the scene and was suspected to have set fire to the swanky, newly built neighborhood.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation released a statement saying that the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and local authorities were on-scene of the possible arson.

"This is being investigated as a domestic terrorism act by the Seattle FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, but it is too early in the investigation to make any determination," the FBI said Monday in a statement.

The Snohomish County District Seven Fire Department, which was extinguishing the flames, said Monday that the case had been turned over to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.
Calls made by FOXNews.com to the sheriff on the status of the probe were not immediately returned Monday.

Explosive devices were found in the homes, and crews were able to remove them, said Fire Chief Rick Eastman of Snohomish County District 7.

Crews battled fires at four multimillion-dollar model homes in Woodinville, a suburb north of Seattle.

The sign found at the scene bore the initials "ELF" — those of the radical environmental group — and mocked claims that the luxury homes were environmentally friendly, according to video images of the sign aired by KING-TV.

"Built Green? Nope black!" the sign said.

The fires started at a strip of unoccupied, furnished luxury model homes where developers show off the latest in high-end housing, interior design and landscaping. The homes are later sold.

The blazes are suspicious because they were set in multiple places in separate houses, said Eastman — who confirmed that the ELF sign was found at the scene of the fires in the community north of Woodinville, where some homes were still under construction.

The ELF is a loosely organized collection of radical environmentalists authorities say is responsible for other arsons in the Northwest.

A woman is currently trial in Tacoma for a suspected ELF fire at the University of Washington in 2001. Briana Waters, a 32-year-old violin teacher, is accused of serving as a lookout while her friends planted a devastating fire bomb.

The fire is one of the most notorious in a string of arsons that investigators say were perpetrated from the mid-1990s to 2001 by ELF.

No one was hurt in the arson at UW, but its Center for Urban Horticulture was destroyed and rebuilt at a cost of $7 million. It was targeted because the ELF activists mistakenly believed researchers there were genetically engineering trees, investigators said.