MONTANA - PRIVATE DRONE SHUTS DOWN FOREST FIRE OPERATION

BillH · Jul 31, 2016

Drone shuts down air operation for Fritz fire, zero percent contained [UPDATED]

DeadGrunt · Jul 31, 2016

Last week, this topic was commented about the California wildfires being shut down. Some felt it was okay to fly around them, and others like myself did not condone it. Until someone gets arrested, it will just shed poorly upon those of us which abide by the law. I hope they catch the person and fine them immensely.

rkingsb353 · Jul 31, 2016

I agree.

BillH · Jul 31, 2016

They confiscated the drone, but I don't know if they are in contact with the owner. They could probably trace it from the serial number if it's not registered. I would think if he had registered it, he would have seen the warnings about restricted flying areas.

Richard R · Jul 31, 2016

If he did register and is following the rules, his registration # is somewhere on the bird. But it wouldn't surprise me if a guy like this didn't register either.

BillH · Jul 31, 2016

A guy like that probably didn't register it. People like him will make it really hard to fly these things anywhere but the open desert or the ocean. I hope they get him. And I hope they keep his drone too.

teccer · Aug 1, 2016

not all uav flying during a fire is bad, 6 years ago I was flying my ez* plane and first saw a wisp of smoke but when it started to get bigger I flew over to it to check it out, and this is what was happening, a small shed with thousands of pounds worth of vintage motorbikes was on fire, when I realized this I landed and called the fire brigade, nobody had seen it until then, the farm with the horsebox was at first thought to be the start of the fire but after the fire brigade saw my photos and video and found that the fire started in the motorbike shed.

Richard R · Aug 1, 2016

teccer said:
not all uav flying during a fire is bad, 6 years ago I was flying my ez* plane and first saw a wisp of smoke but when it started to get bigger I flew over to it to check it out, and this is what was happening, a small shed with thousands of pounds worth of vintage motorbikes was on fire, when I realized this I landed and called the fire brigade, nobody had seen it until then, the farm with the horsebox was at first thought to be the start of the fire but after the fire brigade saw my photos and video and found that the fire started in the motorbike shed.

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Good for you. Bet the insurance people would be interested in seeing you video too. But there is a big difference between encountering a fire while flying and interfering with ongoing firefighting operations. You were being a responsible citizen while the guy in Montana was putting lives and property at risk. Unfortunately, for every article where drones helped that comes out, there will be 10 where they caused problems. Nothing does the community more damage than bad publicity.

teccer · Aug 1, 2016

the owners of the lorry that burnt out were first accused of starting the fire with their horse poo heap catching fire, and they had a very sick time thinking that their insurance was going to have to pay for 10,000s of pounds worth of destroyed motorbikes, it was only when they heard that I had filmed it they contacted the brigade who then asked to see my pics and video, solved !! not their fault