DATE=10/28/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ARSONISTS SOUGHT (L-only)

NUMBER=2-309157

BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN

DATELINE=LOS ANGELES

INTERNET=YES

Content=

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INTRO: As fires rage through Southern California, officials in the city of San Bernardino are asking for help in finding two arsonists. Mike O'Sullivan reports, the two are thought to have set a fire that destroyed more than 400 houses.

TEXT: The pair are thought to have started one of the 10 large fires that have scorched more than 200-thousand hectares of southern California.

Sergeant Bobby Dean, a homicide detective, says a blaze near San Bernardino was started by two men in a gray van.

/// DEAN ACT ///

That fire progress through the city and destroyed a number of residences. We've attributed four deaths, all heart attacks, apparently related to that fire.

/// END ACT ///

Police are distributing a sketch of one of the men based on a description by an eyewitness.

San Bernardino county official Dennis Hansberger says a reward is being offered for the men's capture.

/// HANSBERGER ACT ///

The board of supervisors, in an attempt to assist in this investigation to attract people to assist the sheriff's office in this investigation, is offering a reward of 50-thousand dollars for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the persons who are guilty of this act.

/// END ACT ///

The two men, if caught and convicted, face 25 years in prison under a tough California's arson law passed 10 years ago. (Signed)

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