Federal panel in Pasadena to review Station fire battle tactics
A public panel is scheduled to get underway Tuesday morning in Pasadena to scrutinize the actions of the U.S. Forest Service in fighting the devastating Station fire.
A desire to control costs slowed the arrival of "critical resources" in the attack on last year's fire as the Forest Service delayed ordering reinforcements from other agencies that had crews and equipment at the ready, according to an internal federal review.
The finding contradicts statements made for more than a year by Forest Service officials, who have insisted repeatedly that cost concerns never impeded the Station fire battle. It is likely to sharpen questions about the firefighting decision-making as the congressional panel meeting in Pasadena prepares to examine the Forest Service's actions.
The findings in the "Large Cost Fire Review," a copy of which The Times has obtained, will be addressed by Los Angeles-area members of the House of Representatives during Tuesday's session.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), who organized the session, said in a statement that the review "raises serious questions about whether a Forest Service policy intended to limit costs prevented the timely use of resources. ... This will certainly be one of the important issues I intend to raise."
The panel plans to interview former and current Forest Service officials and L.A. County Fire Department administrators, among others. The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, is conducting a broader probe of the fire, and the Agriculture Department's inspector general is investigating why the Forest Service withheld telephone dispatch recordings from another federal review and from the public.
-- Paul Pringle
Photo: Firefighters build a memorial to honor two of their own killed fighting the Station fire. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times
Recommendations
