Schiff asks if Forest Service broke law in Station fire

Saying U.S. Forest Service workers may have broken the law by taping phone conversations in the early stages of the 2009 Station fire, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) pushed Friday for a definitive finding from federal investigators.

Schiff sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector General Phyllis Fong, asking whether call were imporpeerly taped and whether evidence of the phone calls was withheld during the initial government probe in response to the Station fire.

The fire blackened 250 acres of forest, wiped out nearly 90 homes and caused the death of two firefighters. Subsequent investigations have looked into whether the Forest Service delayed use of available resources, including firefighting aircraft, in the early stages of the fire and whether communication failures between the agency and local firefighters allowed the fire to spread.

A report released earlier this week found the Forest Service could have deployed resources more quickly, but said it was not clear whether this failure allowed the fire to grow out of control.

“I am concerned that the Forest Service’s recordings of conversations on two telephone lines at the Angeles National Emergency Communication Center during the Station Fire appear to have been in violation of federal or state law,” Schiff stated in a letter to Fong Friday. “The [Inspector General’s] report suggests that the law was broken, but inexplicably fails to reach a conclusion.”

Schiff demanded a definitive answer as well as an explanation of legal remedies if the recordings were improper.

RELATED:

Station fire report faults Forest Service

-- Bill Kisliuk, Times Community News

Twitter: @bkisliuk