As if trying to water-bomb California fires wasn't dangerous enough, they also have to dodge drones

Screenshot of LACFD post

UPDATE: Saturday, Jan 11, 2025 · 3:18:49 PM +00:00 · xaxnar

Here’s some info on Air Force fire-fighting tools: MAFFS. We’re going to need more of them in the coming years.

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CBC has an important news story out of California.

While fighting fires by dropping water on the Palisades blaze, one of the aircraft sustained damage when it collided with a drone being operated by a private individual. This is serious for multiple reasons:

• If the drone had hit one of the engines, the cockpit, or other critical systems, it could have caused the plane to crash. As it is, the plane is grounded until the damage can be assessed and repaired at a time when it is really needed.
• When the incident occurred, all of the water bombing flights were suspended for an hour — depriving fire fighters of a critical element in trying to control the blazes.
• Flying in the conditions that prevail in a major fire — limited visibility, turbulence, flying close to dangerous terrain — is already difficult enough without having to dodge drones. One of my family members is a military pilot flying C-130’s; he lost friends when an Air Force C-130 went down while fighting fires out west several years ago.

There is private drone footage of the fires turning up on social media. While people may be wanting to document the fires, get posts on social media, or just because they can, the fact of the matter is that when the airspace is closed to fight fires, flying private drones is illegal. Someone caught operating a drone in a fire zone can be subject to serious fines and jail time.

If you happen to run across drone footage of the fires on social media and it is not from a legitimate source, don’t ‘like’ it or share it. This is not behavior that should be encouraged.

There’s a short video at the CBC link that lays all of this out.