by Bill Kisliuk
Pasadena Sun
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 improperly 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.
