A Burning Resolve : String of Blazes Doesn’t Deter Westminster Tet Organizers

City leaders on Monday doubled a reward for information about a string of arson fires and vowed that the attacks would not derail the upcoming street festival celebrating the Vietnamese new year.

“We don’t accept any form of intimidation,” said Councilman Tony Lam, an organizer of the Tet festival. “This is not Vietnam. This is America. This type of activity is unacceptable here. I won’t budge one inch.”

Late Sunday evening, as many in the Vietnamese community celebrated the eve of Tet, a paper storage facility for a foreign-language printing press was gutted by one of three arson fires set that day. The blazes came just days after a small fire occurred behind Lam’s restaurant, which authorities also are investigating as possible arson.

Mayor Charles V. Smith said he believes the fires, which are still under investigation, were started by opponents of the festival. At his urging, the Westminster police also have contacted the FBI.

“We will not stand for this kind of terrorist activity, and that’s what this is: terrorist activity,” Smith said. “We intend to bring the FBI into this. That’s what we have requested.”

An emergency meeting of Tet festival organizers on Monday resulted in the doubling of a $5,000 reward first offered after the fire at Lam’s restaurant.

Monday was the official start of Tet, a weeklong celebration of peace and harmony. But here in the largest Vietnamese community outside of Southeast Asia, it is being marred not only by arson but by rancor and political infighting.

The festival in Little Saigon, which will be held Friday through Sunday, is opposed by some local merchants who say their businesses will suffer with the closing of Bolsa Avenue. And a rival festival to be held in Garden Grove at the same time has sparked accusations that one event is trying to undermine the other.

But all of that meant little to Thoai Tang, owner of Westminster Press, who looked over the rubble Monday and wondered why his business located just off Bolsa Avenue was targeted Sunday night.

Tang said he has nothing to do with the festival and typically takes care to avoid controversies that rage within the Vietnamese community.

“We just do regular business here. We have no enemy, we don’t know of anyone who is angry at us,” Tang said. “This is a newspaper center, so we try to stay out of such political things because we don’t want to take sides.”

Although his storage plant suffered an estimated $200,000 in damage, Tang said he believes he won’t miss a deadline.

While many in the city feel certain the fires are linked to the festival, authorities also are looking at other possibilities. On Sunday night, they questioned transients who were in the area of the fires. Perhaps they saw something suspicious or perhaps even set the fires to keep warm, county Fire Capt. Dan Young said.

“At this point, we just don’t know,” Young said. “We’re not jumping to any conclusions.”

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Fire investigators from the county and Garden Grove, where Lam’s restaurant is located, planned to meet Monday to determine whether the incidents are related, Young said.

But there is no question that arson is to blame in the Westminster fires.

One fire was started in a dumpster, another in stacks of newspapers set aside for recycling. The third and most damaging fire began in a bundle of papers set against the paper-storage facility, Young said. A flammable liquid is believed to have been used in each fire, he said.

The paper plant, a wood-frame building filled with rolls of paper, fueled a spectacular blaze visible for miles, he said.

The Westminster Police Department and the Orange County Fire Authority, which have been put on alert, will ensure the safety of the thousands of people expected to attend the festival in Little Saigon, Lam said.

Westminster Police Capt. Andrew Hall said law enforcement will be careful not to detract from the festival atmosphere.

“We recognize there is a lot of disagreement in the community over whether the festival should be held here, and we have very elaborate plans for the security of the festival,” he said.

On Monday, many in the Vietnamese community were saddened that the fires came at the start of Tet, one of the most important cultural and religious holidays in the Vietnamese culture. It traditionally calls for honoring ancestors and observing the start of the new harvest season.

“It is very regrettable that something like this happens,” said Mai Cong, head of the Vietnamese Community of Orange County Inc., a nonprofit social service center. “This shouldn’t happen on the eve of Tet.”

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Times staff writer Lily Dizon contributed to this report