Civilian drone ‘incursions’ are disrupting wildland firefighting operations

So far this wildfire season, aerial firefighting activities have faced the persistent nuisance of 21 “public drone incursions,” the National Interagency Fire Center reported.

In 10 of those events, firefighting aircraft operations had to be shut down, according to data from the center — a Boise, Idaho, based collaborative of national and state wildland fire entities. During such circumstances, blazes can become bigger and raise threats to area residents, the center warned.

“When firefighting aircraft must be grounded, wildfires can grow in size, which greatly hampers firefighting efforts, threatens lives, homes, property and natural resources,” the partners said in a Sunday statement.

The 21 incursions thus far this year have predominantly occurred in the U.S. West, with five cases in California, three in Arizona, three in New Mexico, two in Colorado and one each in Wyoming, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Texas and Alaska. One such event also happened in Florida and another in Virginia, according to interagency data.

While these numbers may be disruptive, they have not yet passed the seasonal average of 23 drone incursions, the data showed. The most drone incursions were reported in 2016, when 41 such incidents took place.

“Know before you fly a drone,” the statement added.