INDIAN HEAD, Md. (AP) -- Investigators believe more than one person set fires at a tony housing development near a sensitive wetland, and offered and $82,000 reward on Wednesday for information leading to their conviction.
Fires were set at 19 homes, and attempts were made to set fires at least 11 others, investigators said.
``It's more than likely more than one'' person, said Barry Maddox, an FBI spokesman.
The failed attempts provided fire technicians with important evidence, said Faron Taylor, a deputy state fire marshal, who declined to identify the method used to torch the homes.
Police, meanwhile, are searching for the driver of a blue van that firefighters responding to the scene saw leaving the Hunters Brooke development as the early morning fires raged.
``Obviously, that person is a potential witness, but possibly something more,'' said Capt. Joe Montminy of the Charles County Sheriff's office.
Authorities still have not found a motive for fires, which destroyed at least 10 homes and damaged 16 others. Fires at most of the homes were intentionally set, although seven homes were damaged by fires burning at neighboring homes.
Investigators said they do not have any evidence that factors such as race or environmental terrorism were to blame, but still maintain that no motives have been ruled out.
Montminy also said a number of tips have been received by an arson hot line, one leading to the arrest of a potential suspect Tuesday night. The man, however, turned out to be operating a methamphetamine lab and was not connected to the fires.
The reward is composed of $25,000 from the Charles County commissioners, and $57,000 donated by the business community.
``We will not tolerate this kind of activity in Charles County,'' said Wayne Cooper, president of the board of commissioners.
Operators of several nearby gas stations, meanwhile, said investigators had asked to review their security tapes and questioned whether anyone had filled large containers in the hours before the fire. Investigators have not said how the fires were set.
Montminy said the investigation at the scene was expected to be completed Wednesday.
Many of the new homeowners in Hunters Brooke are black, but Montminy said the area is racially mixed, ``definitely not all white or all black, it's rural.''
Police have said there hasn't been any significant increase in cases of racial vandalism or other racially motivated crimes recently.
On Tuesday, Maddox said the agency was not aware of any claims of credit by any group for the fires. Maddox also said he was not aware of any recent activity in the Washington area by radical environmental groups such as the Earth Liberation Front.
Charles County has experienced rapid growth in recent years as the Washington suburbs spread outward from the city, causing disputes over where and how to build in the formerly rural county.
The Sierra Club has called the development ``quintessential sprawl'' in its Fall 2000 sprawl report, noting it is far from existing infrastructure and ``threatens a fragile wetland and important historical sites near the Chesapeake Bay.''
The homes, in a development next to an environmental preserve, were priced between $400,000 and $500,000. Built on lots about a quarter acre each, the homes that burned were spread over a 10-acre area, said Faron Taylor, a deputy state fire marshal.
The fire was not far from Araby Bog, an area some have been trying to preserve. The Sierra Club has said the development would severely degrade the state's largest magnolia bogs.
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