A little over two years ago, fire swept through five buildings and four ski lifts in Vail, Colo., causing more than $12 million in damage, upending a small town already reeling from enormous change, and eventually introducing the word ecoterrorism into the mainstream lexicon. Burning down the lodge. Photo: earthliberationfront.com. Indeed, so prominent were the arson fires of 19 Oct. 1998 that the event not only spawned numerous news stories but also elbowed its way to becoming a minor story line on the TV drama "The West Wing." In one episode, after some staff bantering over the physical characteristics of …