By Brian Charles
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune
LOS ANGELES — The General Accounting Office will launch an investigation into the 2009 Station Fire after continued pressure to do so by a contingent of California lawmakers, officials said today.
Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, and David Dreier, R-San Dimas, lead several of their California colleagues, including Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, and Reps. Brad Sherman and Judy Chu, in making the bipartisan request for the investigation on Aug. 5.
Calls for an investigation were prompted by news reports that indicated critical Forest Service dispatch recordings from the start of the fire were withheld from federal teams that have already conducted reviews of the Station Fire.
“I was deeply troubled to learn that critical Forest Service dispatch recordings from the start of the fire were withheld from federal review teams,” Rep. Schiff said, in a statement released today. “This warrants an independent review of the Station Fire response.
“According to the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the United States Congress, staff with the required skills could be available to initiate the investigation in as soon as three months.
Schiff awaits the investigation that he said will provide strategies to fight future forest fires.
“I eagerly anticipate the commencement of the GAO investigation, which will evaluate whether the actions in response to the fire were taken in the most efficacious way possible,” Schiff said in a statement. “This review will help us to better understand the events surrounding the initial response to the Station Fire to improve the response to future fires.”
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