IRON COUNTY, Utah — Fire officials are reminding Utahns to keep drones far away from active wildfires after aerial firefighting operations on the Eight Mile Fire near Cedar City were temporarily interrupted when a drone was spotted in the area.
The lightning-caused fire, burning along a ridgeline between Newcastle and Cedar City, was one of several fires sparked by thunderstorms Saturday.
Utah Wildfires
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"We actually had four or five fires that were started yesterday by lightning strikes," Iron County Sheriff Kenneth Carpenter told FOX 13 News. "Most of them were single-tree lightning strike fires that were easily controlled and contained. But currently, we still have two active fires in Iron County, and the bigger one is the Eight Mile Fire."
Fire crews were attacking the fire from both the ground and the air when the drone was reported.
Carpenter said firefighters were fortunate the aircraft had just completed a retardant drop and were returning to refill when the drone was spotted.
"They had just dropped their retardant and were going back to the firebase, which gave us time to go out and look for the drone operator," Carpenter said. "We didn't locate them, but fortunately they had left the area. Had the drone remained in the area, we would have had to cancel all further flight operations until we had that dealt with. That's a real problem."
Officials say when unauthorized drones enter restricted wildfire airspace, firefighting aircraft must stop flying because of the risk of a midair collision.
The warning comes just weeks after the Utah County Sheriff's Office used drone detection technology for the first time to locate and cite a drone operator accused of flying in restricted airspace over the Iron Fire near Eureka.
"They detected a drone that had entered into the Utah County airspace and were able to make contact with that drone operator," said Sgt. Ray Ormond with the Utah County Sheriff's Office.
According to Ormond, the operator knowingly flew inside the temporary flight restriction established around the wildfire.
"He was aware that he was flying in a restricted area, and he was not lawful," Ormond said.
Violating those restrictions can carry serious penalties, including criminal charges.
"At the minimum, it can have a $2,500 fine and/or imprisonment for a Class B misdemeanor," Ormond said. "If it gets into the felony range, then a lot more fees and fines and potentially time in prison."
Beyond the legal consequences, Ormond said drones create significant safety hazards for firefighting pilots.
"There have been issues, including down in Moab and Grand County, where a helicopter was struck by one," Ormond said. "We also saw that happen during the Palisades Fire in California, where a water-scooping aircraft was struck by a drone and damaged a wing. We want these air crews to be safe, to be able to do their job unhindered and honestly to be able to stop and put this fire out."
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Carpenter echoed that concern, saying a drone striking an aircraft could have deadly consequences.
"If a drone happens to be in the path and gets sucked into an engine, that could very easily cause an aircraft crash and take the lives of those pilots flying those aircraft," Carpenter said. "We cannot have drones flying in the areas of these active air operations."
He also warned that grounding firefighting aircraft, even for a short time, can allow a small wildfire to grow into something much more dangerous.
"It's very easy for a fire that's relatively small like this to get out of control and become an 80,000- or 100,000-acre fire if we don't have those resources available to us," Carpenter said. "If we have to ground those planes, there's a good chance with all the fires burning throughout the western United States that those assets could be assigned to another fire, and we'd lose out."
Fire officials are urging the public to avoid flying drones anywhere near active wildfires, reminding people that if drones are in the air, firefighting aircraft can't be.
