PROVO, Utah — Fire officials remind the public not to fly drones near fires, as they interrupt firefighting efforts. So far, officials say there have been six confirmed drone sightings and 6 more reports of them.
"Especially in the initial attack phase, that 30 minutes, that we’re grounding initial attack assets could be the difference between a half-acre fire and a 500-acre fire,” explained U.S. Forest Service aviation officer Eric Panebaker.
"12 drone sightings within a 5-day period is unheard of in my career,” added Panebaker. They had to halt operations or divert aircrafts 4 times because of drones.
"Even though you may not see all of the aircrafts that are working, we may have 5 to 10 aircrafts working just the other side of the hill that are out of sight, but one drone spotted say over house will shut that entire air show down,” said Panebaker.
Provo Police said there are penalties for breaking the rules. They are working on educating people about what to do and not do. "A lot of them don’t know, they’re not aware that they're not able to fly, they're not aware of the concerns with the aircrafts,” said Detective Erik Jensen.
“They feel like they’re not in the way of the aircrafts and that they can easily move out of the way, but in some circumstances, that’s not true.”
For drone enthusiastic like Scott Taylor, it’s concerning when people break the rules.
Hoping people can be more careful and use drones the right way. "It’s such an amazing tool that when I see people not only breaking the rules, but endangering public servant safety, it is incredibly frustrating,” said Panebaker.
"I think with just like any other hobby or any other sport, you have rules to live by, and if you follow those rules, you can enjoy yourself and do it right,” added Taylor.
