RC-drones chase firefighter-aircraft, delay response by 15+ minutes

http://gizmodo.com/la-freeway-looks-post-apocalyptic-after-drones-delay-fi-1718764017

Excerpts:

Dozens of charred, abandoned cars made for a surreal landscape after a massive wildfire swept across a major Southern California freeway yesterday afternoon. Early this morning officials confirmed that five drones flying over the scene hindered firefighters’ response and caused the fire to jump the freeway.

According to an early morning report by NBC LA, five drones were seen flying over the fire, and two of the drones interfered directly with firefighting aircraft, forcing planes to jettison their fire retardant early and return to the San Bernardino Airport.

Battalion Chief Marc Peebles of San Bernardino County Fire Department said firefighting efforts were directly hampered by the drones:

Two drones actually gave chase to air units, and the incident delayed response by about 15 to 20 minutes.

When asked if the delay contributed to the fire jumping the 15 Freeway, Peebles said “It definitely contributed to it.”

“It can kill our firefighters in the air ... They can strike one of these things and one of our aircraft could go down, killing the firefighters in the air. This is serious to us. It is a serious, not only life threat, not only to our firefighters in the air, but when we look at the vehicles that were overrun by fire, it was definitely a life-safety threat to the motorists on Interstate 15.”