DENVER -- Federal prosecutors have named a suspect in the $12 million 1998 fires that hit Vail Mountain. The fires were the nation's costliest ecoterrorism attacks.

The stunning news was welcomed in the resort town.

"Safe to say, everyone here in this community is interested in seeing some closure to the Vail fire. I think it was very difficult for this community to overcome," said Kim Andree, spokeswoman for the Eagle County sheriff's department, which investigated the fire.

During a bail hearing in U.S. District Court in Oregon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdahl said Chelsea Gerlach, 28, of Portland is a prime suspect in five cases, including the fire at Vail.

"The investigation into the fires in Vail in 1998 ... is active and ongoing," said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver. "No charges have been filed. But the case remains under active investigation."

"Even though the arson occurred seven years ago, we are very encouraged that the authorities continue to show great interest in this case," said Kelly Ladyga, Vail Resorts spokeswoman.

Gerlach was one of six people arrested in a string of ecoterrorism attacks in the Northwest. She has been indicted on charges she helped two others topple a Bonneville Power Administration high-tension line 25 miles east of Bend, Ore., on the night of Dec. 30, 1999.

"It's good news to know this case is going somewhere," said A.J. Johnson, the sheriff at the time of the fire who left office in 2002 and lives in nearby Edwards.

After the fire, Johnson said a task force was established in the Denver FBI office to investigate it and agents worked closely with the FBI in Portland. He said there was a lot of communication back and forth.

"It's good that information is flowing though the organizations like it should. I'm hopeful it leads to more arrests," he said.

Several fires were set at the Vail ski resort before dawn on Oct. 19, 1998.

Four buildings, including the Two Elk Lodge, ski patrol headquarters, and four chairlifts at the top of the mountain, were damaged or destroyed. A new lodge was built on the site of the original one and was opened in 2000.

At the time, authorities said they had at least 100 suspects and some community members suspected an inside job because of the amount of accelerant needed to start such a large fire. Suspicion also fell on environmental groups, including members of one group that was camping four miles from Vail at the time of the fires.

"The opportunity to create a seamless reason to why this occured, would make us all... feel much more safe," Andree said. "I think we would feel vindicated and actually move forward and not have this little black cloud hanging over the shoulder of people who were named and were suspect."

The first big break in the case came in 2000, when a hunter found four five-gallon gas cans hidden under some broken branches in the White River National Forest just outside the ski area. No one has been arrested in the case, despite a reward offer of $50,000.

The fires' legacy includes beefed up security at Vail Resorts' four Colorado resorts, measures which remain in place, and a uniting of the community.

"The fires were a defining moment for Vail. It made us stronger as a community. It brought us all closer together," said town spokeswoman Suzanne Silverthorne. "It galvanized us. If we had disagreements with Vail Resorts, we set those differences aside and worked together to get that mountain open and rebuild what we had lost. That spirit and community unity still exists today."

Rocky Smith of the environmental group, Colorado Wild, told the Vail Daily that the ecoterrorists' cause did not justify destruction.

"In fact, it generated sympathy for Vail that they didn't deserve." Smith said. "As far as ecoterror in general, it's not productive, and morally you can't justify it."

The ski lodge was rebuilt and opened a year later.