"We fought against Chapman's Forest just like Hunters Brooke," said Cathy Raby, 45, a waitress at the VFW Post 1800 in Indian Head. "It's going to affect the ecosystem with all the houses and deforestation."
Jacque and Dawn Hightower worried about their own environment. The couple was supposed to move into their new $450,000 home in Hunters Brooke and celebrate Christmas with their family there. But Monday morning Jacque Hightower, 32, woke in a relative's White Plains house to his wife's scream. She had just seen the blaze on television.
Firefighters douse the smoldering remains of new homes in a controversial Indian Head development. Ten homes were destroyed and 16 damaged in what officials said was the largest residential arson case in Maryland history.
(James M. Thresher -- The Washington Post)
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"Our house is on fire!" she said.
Like other soon-to-be residents, the Hightowers waited anxiously outside a police cordon of the subdivision Monday to find the extent of damage to their home. By Tuesday evening, he still didn't know what had happened to his house, and he said he had mixed feelings about moving in now.
"My first priority is to make sure my family is secure," said Hightower, who works for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. "My wife and I worked hard and long to get this, our dream home."
The fire scene was swarming with more than 100 investigators this week from Charles, Anne Arundel, Prince George's and Fairfax as well as the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. While the agents and officers worked, news reporters were kept about half a mile away, down by Route 225. Investigators said they needed to finish examining the damaged buildings before they could establish a chronology of events or disclose other details.
"It won't be until we know exactly how all 26 homes were ignited that we'll have a better feel for just how long it would have taken a person or persons [to set the fires]," said Taylor. "Or what level of sophistication they needed or brought with them."
Staff writer Amit R. Paley contributed to this report.
