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US firefighters have condemned drone owners who flew their craft near forest fires and grounded helicopters being used to douse flames.
Lives were put at unnecessary risk because helicopters could not fly, said fire department officials. The helicopters were helping to contain a large wildfire in San Bernadino county over the weekend. Five drones spotted hovering over the fire were thought to be shooting video for their owners.
The activity of the drones meant helicopters were grounded for about 20 minutes, Eric Sherwin of the San Bernadino fire department told CNN.
[...]
"When a hobby drone is flown into a fire area, incident commanders have no choice but to suspend air operations and ground aircraft until the drone is removed from the area," it said.The fire department issued images that were shared on social media, warning drone owners to stay away from fires. "If you fly, we can't," they said.
US rules governing drone use mean any pilot caught flying their craft over a disaster area that has temporary flight restrictions in place could be fined up to $25,000 (£16,000). It is not clear whether the FAA is going to investigate who was piloting the drones over the Interstate 15 fire.
Drones have hindered firefighters in California at least four times before now, sometimes stopping flights for up to 90 minutes.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by tibman on Tuesday July 21 2015, @03:24PM
Bird strikes are no joke so i understand their concern with a drone. But honestly it sounds like a blame game when you read the report. They list a ton of property damage in the first half and then spend the next half ranting about drones. I don't think the drone was the cause for thousands of acres of damage. Though they are correct that the drone was a nuisance. A helicopter could have flown over the drone and blown it straight into the ground. Firefighters don't park the firetruck down the street when someone is blocking the hydrant. They fuck that car up and everyone cheers (except one or two people, who are silent).
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2015, @03:44PM
RC planes and "drones" are extremely difficult to see from distances that matter. A few hundred feet away they're practically invisible, especially against an uneven background (clouds when seen from below, the ground from above, smoke from the side). It is not uncommon for an inattentive RC pilot to "lose" a plane in the distance for seconds, even though they know where to look. Birds are easier to see because of their motion, and bird strikes still leave pilots with the conscious realization of "what's going to happen" only after it has happened.
(Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Tuesday July 21 2015, @05:07PM
I was wondering this, too - how big are these drones that there's a serious worry about one of them having enough inertia to stay around a helicopter long enough to impact either rotors or fuselage without just getting completely fucked sideways? If the pilot spots it, fly over it over and push it down with the much stronger downdraft of a full-sized flying machine and let the fucker get lost in the fire; if the pilot doesn't see it, isn't there a rotor tip vortex that will send it tumbling before it even has a chance to impact the rotors? (And in either case, the owner of the drone can learn to stay the hell away from the big boys next time.)
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