'Personal Drone' Crash Causes 335-Acre Wildfire In Coconino National Forest (azcentral.com)

McGruber writes: A "personal drone" that crashed and burst into flames was the cause of the Kendrick Fire, a 335-acre fire in the Coconino National Forest in northern Arizona. Coconino National Forest spokesman George Jozens said that about 30 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service and Summit Fire and Medical worked to quell the fire.

Comments

Re:So what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually yes. That's what your car insurance is for. In what alternate reality did you think you were not liable ?

Re:Well consider the source

[Pinky's Brain]

The owner reported it :

"The operator reported the fire and was later cited for causing timber, trees, slash, brush, or grass to burn."

http://fireaviation.com/tag/ke...

Real context about Arizona fires

[az-saguaro]

Above, Anonymous Coward wrote "Just for the record, 335 acres is about 1/2 square mile. Not quite as big as it sounds. I'm not saying that makes it no big deal...just clarifying context."

So, as someone who lives in Arizona, allow me to clarify context.

This is a hot and dry State, and 15 years of drought has created a lot of dry brush, aka "fuel" in our forests and chaparral and grasslands and deserts. This is also an outdoor activities State, and people camping and hiking can do dangerous things with campfires and other tools and toys. Also, as suburban settlement pushes farther into rural areas, not only does ignition risk go up, but risks of injury, death, and lost property also increase. You might have seen last year's movie "Only the Brave" about the Yarnell Hill fire in 2013. That was a relatively small fire, only 8500 acres, in which 19 firefighters were killed.

Here are some numbers:

Year _ Number of fires _ Acres Burnt
2004 _ 2,602 _ 219,900
2005 _ 4,027 _ 975,456
2006 _ 3,274 _ 177,427
2007 _ 2,240 _ 101,381
2008 _ 1,850 _ 85,496
2009 _ 2,371 _ 263,358
2010 _ 1,517 _ 74,445
2011 _ 1,969 _ 1,036,935
2012 _ 1,684 _ 216,090
2013 _ 1,449 _ 100,836

Fire Name _ Year _ County _ Acres Burnt _ Structures Lost _ Human Deaths _ Cause

Dude _ 1990 _ Coconino _ 28,000 _ 63 _ 6 _ lightning
Rattlesnake _ 1994 _ Cochise _ 25,000 _ 0 _ 0 _ lightning
Rio _ 1995 _ Maricopa _ 23,000 _ 0 _ 0 _ lightning
Lone _ 1996 _ Maricopa _ 61,300 _ 0 _ 0 _ human
Pumpkin _ 2000 _ Coconino _ 14,760 _ 0 _ 0 _ lightning
Rodeo–Chediski _ 2002 _ Coconino _ 468,638 _ 426 _ 0 _ human
Aspen _ 2003 _ Pima-Pinal _ 84,750 _ >325 _ 0 _ human
Willow _ 2004 _ Gila _ 119,500 _ 0 _ 0 _ lightning
Nuttall-Gibson _ 2004 _ Graham _ 30,000 _ 0 _ 0 _ lightning
Cave Creek _ 2005 _ Maricopa-Yavapai _ 243,950 _ 11+ _ 0 _ lightning
Florida _ 2005 _ Santa Cruz _ 23,183 _ 0 _ 0 _ lightning
Schultz _ 2005 _ Coconino _ 15,075 _ 0 _ 0 _ human
Horseshoe 2011 _ Cochise _ 222,954 _ 23 0 _ 0 _ human
Monument _ 2011 _ Cochise _ 30,526 _ 64 _ 0 _ human
Wallow _ 2011 _ Apache-Graham-Greenlee-Navajo _ 538,049 _ 72 _ 0 _ human
Gladiator _ 2012 _ Yavapai _ 16,240 _ 6 _ 0 _ human
Yarnell Hill _ 2013 _ Yavapai _ 8,500 _ 129 _ 19 _ lightning
Slide _ 2014 _ Coconino _ 21,227 _ 0 _ 0 _ human

[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ]

Many fires are small, but they cost time, effort, risk, and dollars to prevent growing into huge conflagrations. Fire prevention and containment is serious business here in Arizona. Counties regularly issue prohibitions about not only campfires, but even about burning wood in urban fireplaces. Human caused fires are on the increase, and latest numbers from the State are that ninety percent, 90%, of Arizona wildfires are man made, some deliberately, but mostly inadvertent, some honest accidents, and many just plain stupid acts by idiots. Penalties vary but can be costly in terms of dollars and time in jail. In other areas that are more temperate, rainy, and wetland, wildfire risk may not be so severe, but here in Arizona, playing with motorized ignitable toys in forested areas is a genuine threat, even for just "small" fires.