On the heels of Firefox's lead engineer Ben Goodger moving to Google, a second Firefox developer has announced he's been hired by the search giant.

Mozilla developer Darin Fisher, who ran the cookies and permissions part of the non-profit's browser development efforts, and was also in charge of the portable run-time work, wrote in his blog this week that he's gone to Google.

"I have joined Google as well," Fisher wrote. "Like Ben, I will still be very much involved with the Mozilla project and community."

Goodger also contended that he will continue working on Mozilla and Firefox projects.

Google has refused to confirm or categorically deny that it's working on a browser of its own, or what these new developers will be up to. Speculation, meanwhile, is that the San Francisco, Calif.-based search firm, which has created add-on toolbars for Internet Explorer and has close ties with rival Firefox, is actively working on a Google-branded browser.

The announcement of a second Firefox programmer on Google's payroll led Gary Price, a search analyst with SearchEngineWatch.com to write, "If it wasn't there already, Google browser has now been kicked into overdrive."