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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Stop Releasing Mall Fire Dispatches, Roseville Tells KCRA 3 - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

Stop Releasing Mall Fire Dispatches, Roseville Tells KCRA 3 - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

Stop Releasing Mall Fire Dispatches, Roseville Tells KCRA 3

Radio Traffic Offers Insights Into Oct. 21 Blaze

POSTED: 3:47 pm PST December 23, 2010
UPDATED: 4:03 pm PST December 23, 2010

The City of Roseville is demanding that KCRA 3 stop revealing Roseville Fire Department radio transmissions from the day of the Westfield Galleria at Roseville mall inferno.

"KCRA knows ... that neither the City of Roseville nor its fire department had authorized the disclosure of the audio recordings," Roseville City Attorney Brita Bayless said in a "cease-and-desist" request sent to KCRA 3 on Wednesday.

In its response, attorneys for KCRA 3 told Roseville city officials that the station's "publications of these recordings is fully protected by the First Amendment" even though the city "may be embarrassed by public disclosure of these recordings."

The request from the City of Roseville comes after KCRA 3 released multiple radio transmissions regarding the intentional shutoff of the mall's sprinkler system during the Oct. 21 blaze.

The latest radio transmissions show the frustration firefighters dealt with as law enforcement officers did not immediately include them in the initial