On the heels of last week’s Romania Chevrolet fire, the second arson at the dealership in a year, the Eugene Police Department announced Thursday the formation of the Joint Arson Task Force to address the rising number of “suspicious” fires in the Eugene area.
The task force will comprise more than 40 officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Oregon State Department of Justice, Oregon State Police and the EPD.
In the past year, there have been 128 fires in the Eugene area that the department considers “suspicious,” said EPD spokeswoman Pam Alejandre.
The task force announcement was made during the first day of Jeffrey Michael Luers’ criminal case proceedings in Lane County Court. Luers has been charged with multiple crimes stemming from the June 2000 Romania fire.
The task force’s first duty will be to continue the investigation into the March 30 Romania fire, EPD Capt. Thad Buchanan said.
Early Thursday morning, the FBI executed a search warrant for Earth Liberation Front spokesman Craig Rosebraugh’s Portland home, business and two automobiles. Buchanan said information from the Romania fire aided in the officers’ being able to obtain the search warrant.
While the FBI led the Rosebraugh search, Eugene police, Oregon State Police and ATF officers participated in the execution of the search warrant. FBI spokeswoman Beth Ann Steele said Rosebraugh was detained for a short while during the search, but contrary to earlier media reports, was not arrested.
This is the second time in a year agents have searched Rosebraugh’s possessions.

The FBI would not identify specific items seized in the search, and Steele said the information within the search warrant is still sealed.
As of Thursday afternoon, police continued to follow up on more than 100 leads in the Romania fire. No suspects have been identified, and no arrests have been made.
A March 19 communiqué the ELF issued called for an International Day of Action on Earth Day, April 22. The communiqué “invites participation from all interested parties — cells of the Animal Liberation Front, Earth First!, anti-genetix campaigners, and any other group or individual willing to stand with us and declare, ‘No compromise in defense of Mother Earth!’”
Buchanan said the task force will also continue the investigation of the March 20 arson attempt at University men’s basketball coach Ernie Kent’s house. No new information or leads have developed in the case, Buchanan said. The house, at 3335 Park Hill, was unoccupied at the time of the fire and was in the process of being renovated.