YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) -- The U.S. Forest Service has taken final disciplinary action against 11 employees for the deaths of four firefighters during a 2001 wildfire, but refuses to release details because of federal privacy law.
The agency won't even tell the firefighters' families who was disciplined or what actions were taken, Forest Service spokesman Rex Holloway said Tuesday.
The four died in their emergency fire shelters July 10, 2001, when they were trapped along with 10 other firefighters and two campers in the Okanogan National Forest.
The Forest Service concluded last year that fire bosses failed to follow basic safety rules and ignored numerous signs of danger.
Lawyer Alison Howard, representing the Yakima Herald-Republic and The Seattle Times in a Freedom of Information Act dispute with the Forest Service, said the agency is withholding information that legally should be made public.
``There is a public interest in these events, and there is a public interest in how the Forest Service is handling itself,'' she said.
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