Drones flying over the Spokane fires have added more chaos to the devastating situation. Such incursions are on the rise, and officials say they’re dangerous for wildfire pilots, firefighters and the public alike.
On a single day this week “in excess of 21 drone incursions” were detected within the temporary flight restriction around Spokane, said spokesperson Benjamin Cossel, who’s with the complex incident management team managing the fires. They have resulted in aircraft – essential parts of the emergency response – being grounded.
"There is no amount of footage that is worth causing us to stop firefighting operations,” he said.
Brad Koeckeritz, division chief for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems with the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, talked to the Mountain West News Bureau before the Spokane disaster.
“It's definitely a significant problem,” he said.
“The impact is twofold,” Koeckeritz explained. “One, it's a risk to the aviation personnel. And then two, it's a risk to folks on the ground – both the firefighters and the public – not having the air support that they need in order to suppress that fire.”
Through July 20, officials had logged 19 wildfire drone incursions. There were 53 last year, the highest figure in the four full years of data available, and 23 in 2021.
Beyond highly visible water and retardant drops, helicopters and planes play numerous roles on the fireline, from delivering food and firefighting gear, to monitoring incidents and emergency medical evacuations.
“When you think about the fire area, the aviation environment goes from the surface of the earth up to several thousand feet above the incident,” he explained. “So anytime somebody chooses to fly a drone into a fire area, they're going to adversely impact safety.”
He said federal officials are actively working to better detect drones and find their operators, who could be subject to civil and criminal penalties.
“There's ongoing efforts to come up with some technological solutions that would allow us to quickly use the remote ID that's being transmitted from the aircraft to locate who's operating that UAS,” he said. “And by all means, we will refer that to our colleagues in law enforcement for follow up.”
A list of active temporary flight restrictions can be found here.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
