
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 27, 1993                   TAG: 9304270291
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WACO, TEXAS                                LENGTH: Medium

ARSON TEAM: CULT SET FATAL FIRE

The Branch Davidians deliberately set the immense fire that destroyed their armed fortress one week ago and led to the deaths of as many as 86 people inside, arson investigators said Monday.

"It is the opinion of the investigative team that the fire started in the interior of the building in at least two separate locations at approximately the same time," said Houston fire official Paul Gray, who headed the independent group of arson investigators from around the country.

"The team believes the fire was deliberately set by persons inside the compound," Gray said.

The finding supported the FBI's claim that cult members had ignited the swiftly moving fire.

But Gray declined to answer questions about motives for the arson, which the FBI has suggested came from a cult decision to commit mass suicide rather than surrender to the federal authorities they had held at bay for 51 days.

Six of the nine cult members who escaped the blaze have insisted that there was no suicide pact and that the fire started when armored vehicles ramming the buildings to spray tear gas inside caused several lit kerosene lanterns to overturn.

Jack Zimmermann, a Houston attorney who has met with surviving cult members, Monday questioned the arson team's findings. "The information I had from survivors indicated there was no intentionally set fire. And I believe those people," he said.

Gray, however, ruled out the possibility of an accidental fire based on photographic information and statements from witnesses at the scene as well as other evidence. He said evidence showed a time gap between the last battering of the compound by an FBI armored vehicle and the appearance of the blaze.

FBI agents have said that in the seconds before the fire, they saw a man inside the compound bend down, make a sweeping motion as if he were throwing or spraying something, then cup his hand as if to light a match. In that instance, a glow appeared as if a flame had been lit. Infrared photographs taken from a helicopter hovering overhead also pinpointed several sources of the blaze.

Gray would not identify the substance used to start the fire, which consumed David Koresh's Ranch Apocalypse and its men, women and children in less than 25 minutes while millions of television viewers looked on.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB