“We have learned this week that critical Forest Service dispatch recordings from the start of the fire were withheld from federal review teams,” the letter read. “This casts a dark cloud over the findings of the review panel and immediately warrants an independent review of the Station Fire response.”
In a telephone interview Thursday, Dreier said the lawmakers want to know why the Forest Service withheld the tapes.
“This most recent revelation leads me to raise even more questions than I would otherwise,” he said. “I don’t know if it was a bureaucratic mess. I don’t know if it was intentional. This is what we need to get resolved.”
The letter identified several issues the lawmakers said need to be addressed, including the reason the tapes were withheld; details about initial miscalculations of the strength of the fire; whether the agency made the proper requests for aircraft to fight the blaze; and whether the Forest Service’s policy against nighttime flying allowed the fire to spread.
“Most important, we must establish what lessons were learned from this devastating fire,” the letter reads.
The Forest Service has faced a barrage of criticism since the massive fire torched 250 square miles and claimed the lives of two Los Angeles County firefighters last summer.
A group of former Forest Service officials called the agency’s internal inquiry into its response “whitewashed.”
Sherry Rollman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said she could not comment on the letter and could not reach anyone in the agency handling inquiries about the Station Fire.
In May, Schiff announced he would convene a special panel in Pasadena to review how fire officials handled the Station Fire.
The panel had been scheduled to meet Tuesday in Pasadena, but the date was postponed Thursday because Congress will be in session, officials said.
626-578-6300, ext. 4475
