Phelan, California (CNN)Of all the elements they must battle in a wildfire, firefighters face a new foe: drones operated by enthusiasts who presumably take close-up video of the disaster.
Five such "unmanned aircraft systems" prevented California firefighters from dispatching helicopters with water buckets for up to 20 minutes over a wildfire that roared Friday onto a Los Angeles area freeway that leads to Las Vegas.
Helicopters couldn't drop water because five drones hovered over the blaze, creating hazards in smoky winds for a deadly midair disaster, officials said.
The North Fire torched 20 vehicles on Interstate 15 and incited panic among motorists who fled on foot on the freeway Friday. The wildfire continued to burn uncontrollably Saturday, scorching 3,500 acres with only 5% containment in San Bernardino County, officials said.
Drones hovering over wildfires is a new trend in California, and on Saturday, fire officials condemned the operators of "hobby drones," as officials labeled them. It was unclear Saturday whether authorities would launch an investigation into the five drones.
"Fortunately, there were no injuries or fatalities to report, but the 15 to 20 minutes that those helicopters were grounded meant that 15 to 20 minutes were lost that could have led to another water drop cycle, and that would have created a much safer environment and we would not have seen an many citizens running for their lives," said spokesman Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
Phelan, California (CNN)Of all the elements they must battle in a wildfire, firefighters face a new foe: drones operated by enthusiasts who presumably take close-up video of the disaster.
Five such "unmanned aircraft systems" prevented California firefighters from dispatching helicopters with water buckets for up to 20 minutes over a wildfire that roared Friday onto a Los Angeles area freeway that leads to Las Vegas.
Helicopters couldn't drop water because five drones hovered over the blaze, creating hazards in smoky winds for a deadly midair disaster, officials said.
The North Fire torched 20 vehicles on Interstate 15 and incited panic among motorists who fled on foot on the freeway Friday. The wildfire continued to burn uncontrollably Saturday, scorching 3,500 acres with only 5% containment in San Bernardino County, officials said.
Drones hovering over wildfires is a new trend in California, and on Saturday, fire officials condemned the operators of "hobby drones," as officials labeled them. It was unclear Saturday whether authorities would launch an investigation into the five drones.
"Fortunately, there were no injuries or fatalities to report, but the 15 to 20 minutes that those helicopters were grounded meant that 15 to 20 minutes were lost that could have led to another water drop cycle, and that would have created a much safer environment and we would not have seen an many citizens running for their lives," said spokesman Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
Oh, and what makes THEM so smart? KIPASS isn't even IN their big, thick book.
Problem solved.
! No longer available
The neighboring town next to where I live has repaved a road I frequently travel. Good, it needed it. There were signs warning when construction would happen, expect delays, grooved pavement, raised manhole covers, local detours, etc ....
So, after weeks of dealing with these inconveniences, they are finally done. But, they couldn't get the height of the manhole covers right. They did a terrible job. Some are an inch (or more) lower than the surface of the new smooth road.
...lazy jack asses that don't get out of their car to get their mail out of their mailboxes!
They pull over on the wrong side of the road facing into oncoming traffic to do this.
I saw a good one on the way home from work today, and another car involved in the chaos almost took me out.
How about the people who are doing the "right thing" by not driving (which I guess they interpret as "moving) and messing with their phones, so they just STOP in the middle of a road, blocking traffic so they can play with the phone instead? Have encountered this several times now. The last time, the person was situated so as to block BOTH lanes of a two lane road.
When you just come up behind someone as you are both driving down the road, and they decide that it is now the perfect time to clean their windshield and you end up with washer fluid spots on your nice clean shield.
...from the NSA, of course.