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B.C. mayor says drones endangering wildfire heli pilots, pleads for patience (www.nelsonstar.com)

submitted 5 months ago by TSG_Asmodeus@lemmy.world to c/britishcolumbia@lemmy.ca

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The mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality in British Columbia says drones are endangering helicopters being used to fight wildfires near Fort Nelson, which was ordered evacuated earlier this month.

In a video posted on Facebook, Rob Fraser says drones can be an excellent tool, but under the circumstances where 20 helicopters are flying around, he says drones are “nothing but hazards.”

Fraser says helicopter pilots fighting wildfires are under an immense amount of stress, and says they cannot be looking out for drones, warning “they will cause these guys to crash.”

Fraser says he would take out a drone with a 12-gauge shotgun if he could, but he’s not allowed, so he says people caught using drones in the wildfire evacuation areas will be prosecuted “to the biggest limit” possible.

He says people in the evacuation zone have also caused damage to structural protection hoses by driving over them, and have been speeding through areas and catching fire crews off guard.

Fraser says they’ve begun preliminary work on getting Fort Nelson back up and running by focusing on “essential businesses,” pleading with evacuees to be patient as the fire fight continues.

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[–] nik282000@lemmy.ca 6 points 5 months ago

So while drones are part of the problem the bigger issue is, again, assholes who need to learn that their decisions have extreme and uncomfortable consequences. Time to set up the 'Wildfire Emergency Act" or something that lets police and firefighters hand out multi-thousand dollar tickets to people who get in the way.

[+] Eheran@lemmy.world -6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

How do they endanger helicopters? The rotor wash alone will blow them away.

[–] TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Because the multi-meter wide propeller assembly faces in whatever direction the helicopter is going sucking in air (and drones) as it moves. A drone, especially one carrying larger camera cargo, could do fatal damage to the blades or even strike the cockpit canopy.

[+] Eheran@lemmy.world -7 points 5 months ago (2 children)

What kind of drone could damage rotor blades?

[–] flying_mechanic@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Aircraft maintenance here, even a tiny drone can cause a lot of damage and potentially cause the aircraft to be down for maintenance for a long time. The rotor blades are tough and would probably be ok to get back to the ground with a tiny 250g drone strike but would require inspections and could possibly damage the rotor beyond continued service and require replacement, which may not be on hand. Anything larger and it could be catastrophic

[–] TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

One of the most popular consumer drones, the DJI Phantom, weighs around 1.3kg from what I could see on their website. That would do some serious damage to any aircraft.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It doesn't matter, you do not take the risk with things that are literally working against gravity. There's a reason why aviation laws and rules are so strict

[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Understanding the risks of important.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 0 points 5 months ago

It is yes but I'm sure they will still take a zero risk approach rather then have things that defy gravity just fall and learn after the fact. A bit better to be .ore safe then sorry when it comes to aviation (Boeing doesn't count)