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Colorado Lawmakers Want To Make It a Felony To Fly a Drone Over a Wildfire (thedrive.com)
Several Colorado lawmakers are trying to urge Congress to pass a bill that would make flying unmanned aerial vehicles over wildfires a felony, citing safety concerns. The Drive reports: On Wednesday, Senators Cory Gardner (R-Colorado), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), and Representative Scott Tipton (R-Colorado) introduced the Securing Airspace For Emergency Responders Act, which would fine people for flying UAVs over wildfires without authorization, and potentially send them to jail for a year. "When an unauthorized drone flies over a wildfire, it poses a huge threat to aircraft working to suppress the fire and forces them to ground," said Tipton in a statement. Steve Hall, a spokesman for Colorado's office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, staunchly echoed that sentiment, claiming that firefighters face enough of a challenge navigating smoky and turbulent conditions while piloting firefighting aircraft, that adding rogue drones to the mix would only increase danger and hamper their efforts. On top of that, Hall explained that once an unauthorized drone is observed during a wildfire, firefighters ground their planes. The Denver Post first reported the news (paywalled).
Private drones should be able to fly unmolested, even if there is a fire, this is a newsworthy/noteworthy, and there SHOULD be an allowed way to observe this aerially without creating a hazard; someone's theoretical issues with it an obstinance against change should not result in attempts to make laws criminalizing operation of drones --- possible collision with a drone is just a theoretical threat which should not draw any reaction other than maybe requiring some pilots to change their behavior to adapt, so long as any drone encountered is controlled and not TRULY threatening or in direct path of firefighting craft.
Hall explained that once an unauthorized drone is observed during a wildfire, firefighters ground their planes.
This is a procedural defect on Firefighters' part --- If they believe there is a danger, they should develop for their pilots appropriate tactics and defenses for handling `unwanted` drones. Including equipping planes with weighted nets that can be shot/deployed to forcefully remove a drone from the aircraft's path that comes within X feet of their aircraft or becomes an imminent threat.