UC Davis police and firefighters found evidence this afternoon of an arson fire at the site of the partially constructed Center for Comparative Medicine, west of the main Davis campus. The damage appears to be confined to an area about 10 feet square. The California State Fire Marshal and The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have been called in to assist in the investigation. The UC Davis emergency services departments received no reports of the fire, but discovered the damage after receiving phone calls from local news media. Several newsrooms in Sacramento received an anonymous fax today claiming that ALF (Animal Liberation Front) had firebombed the building to mark the 10-year anniversary of the $4.6 million arson fire at the campus's John E. Thurman Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Although the letters ALF were found painted inside that burned laboratory, no one was ever prosecuted for the fire, due to the lack of evidence. That fire, at the time, was the country's most costly destructive act by animal rights activists. That building was eventually completed and now provides diagnostic services and information to help control animal diseases. Originally scheduled for completion in 1998, the $10.3 million Center for Comparative Medicine is being built so that veterinary and human medicine researchers can combine forces to study serious viral diseases that afflict humans and animals. Construction at the site was halted last week because the general contractor, Schaal/Lechner of Fresno, is unable to finish the building due to financial problems. The center is about 30 percent completed. The university is exploring alternate construction options for the fully bonded project. Research at the new facility will be targeted at prevention and control of major virus-related ailments such as AIDS, herpes, virus diseases, measles, leukemia and other types of cancer. Comparative medicine is the branch of biomedical research that focuses on the similarities and differences in disease processes in all higher animals. By collaboratively studying these processes, in both humans and non-humans, the researchers hope to improve the health of all. The groundbreaking for the building was May 28, 1996. The building construction is funded in part through the special Garamendi program of the State of California and in part through federal funds. It will include 16,000 square feet of laboratory and office space, sufficient for 20 to 25 research units. There also will be 8,000 square feet allocated for research animals.