Yesterday, air operations were suspended because of a drone in the area where the water drop aircraft were to operate.  Whoever it was flying the drone, there is a good chance they will read this post.  If they do, I want them to ask theselves a question;  Are you willing to have people die so you can get a video or picture that may put you in jail if you show it to anyone?  What is the point of this?  The water drop aircraft are absolutely vital to the fire fighting efforts.  Those aircraft will not fly if there is a drone in the air, because of obvious saftey concerns.  Firefighting aircraft typically operate much lower than 400 feet.  They are a major part of the effort to contain the fires, especially in areas that are tough to get to on foot or with vehicles.  Without them, these fires, which are already of epic, record proportions and have cost a bunch of people thier lives and a bunch more thier homes, are going to be a lot harder to contain without aircraft dropping water.  Maybe even your house, or someones house you know, will burn.  Maybe people you care about will die.  Maybe this will be a direct result of your desire to fly and capture imagery of the action.  Since you clearly don't care about rules or common sense, I do not appeal to you on behalf of our hobby.  Yes, it is because of people like you that we have so many rules.  But more to the point, how would you feel if bad things happen, lives are lost, property destroyed, because of you?  It may have already happened.  Who knows, if planes had dropped water yesterday, maybe the fires would be out, or at least under control, today.  Think about it. Leave your drone on the ground.  Be a human being.

I am a firefighter in Australia and use my drone to help fight fires and for search and rescue operations in and around our area.
The emergency services have a vital job to do and unfortunately when unauthorized aircraft including drones enter an emergency declared area all emergency aircraft get grounded including my drone.
This is not only frustrating but down right dangerous as the guys in charge of these operations now rely on this technology to help them save lives and property.
To the idiot flying that drone i only have one thing to say .... I hope your proud of yourself putting peoples lives at risk to get your footage.

Hellsgate Posted at 2017-10-20 19:50
I am a firefighter in Australia and use my drone to help fight fires and for search and rescue operations in and around our area.
The emergency services have a vital job to do and unfortunately when unauthorized aircraft including drones enter an emergency declared area all emergency aircraft get grounded including my drone.
This is not only frustrating but down right dangerous as the guys in charge of these operations now rely on this technology to help them save lives and property.

Yeah, and to me, this is not the same category as flying near an airport, or over crowds of people, etc.  In these cases, the mere presence of a drone has the effect of bringing aircraft based firefighting efforts to a stop.  The consequences are real.  Fire burns more, lasts longer, destroys more and kills more.  You don't need to crash into anything for these things to happen.  You just have to be in the air with the drone.  I live in southern California, in a high risk fire area.  So high, in fact, that I can not get fire insurance for a reasonable rate.  I seriously do not want anything to interfere with the efforts of firefighters if the worst happens.

Good posts. Drone pilots need to stay out of the air unless they work for the fire department and are a coordinated part of the fire fighting effort. Some fire departments are using drones in supporting efforts to fight fires.

Airport and airspace safety are just as important.  There was an event in England this past summer where the lives of 113 people in a jet were put at risk by a drone.  The consequences of illegal flying can be catastrophic.  There needs to be a proactive industry wide solution to address safety risks that exist in flight. DJI's Aeroscope initiative is a good start.  The safety problems may require an ADS-B type solution or some other. But if drones are to become a bigger part of the airspace environment, these safety concerns need to be proactively addressed.

I was hoping to see some drone footage of fires, what's this got to do with DJI Phantoms?

Sounds like more fake news to me

Lord have mercy!  Unreal what can be said on here.

Matt-and-Riley Posted at 2017-10-21 00:51
I was hoping to see some drone footage of fires, what's this got to do with DJI Phantoms?

Sounds like more fake news to me

Unfortunately im not allowed to show any footage of fires or search and rescue operations as they can and do get used as evidence  to prosecute offenders

Hmmm... Does make me wonder now!

Thanks for sharing this! Let the professional people do correct things, and we'll pray.

Basicaly if you see any kind of emergency wether it be a car crash a fire or flood water please keep your drones on the ground and never try to get footage of any of the above situations. You just never know when an emergency aircraft will be flying into the area this includes drones used by emergency services.
These aircraft are vital peices of equipment that help us save lives so help us do our job by doing the right thing.