Utah Votes to let authorities disable drones near wildfires

[Sombeech]

What do you guys think, is it possible?

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=40637970&nid...near-wildfires

It's funny to see all of the knee jerk idiots who think shooting a drone down is a good idea. And then you get the special people thinking you can squirt them down with a hose. Oh boy.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah authorities likely will be among the first in the nation to be allowed to disable and crash drones for flying too close to wildfires after lawmakers approved legislation Wednesday.


The governor is expected to sign the measure in the coming days.


Lawmakers voted during a special session after at least one unmanned aircraft has plagued firefighters recently in the southern part of the state.


The bill would also impose harsher penalties on people caught flying the aircraft, with the maximum punishment of 15 years in prison and $15,000 fine if a drone causes a firefighting aircraft to crash.


Bill sponsor Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, said that while the bill does allow firefighters or law enforcement to shoot down a drone, he doubts they'd do so because the unmanned aircraft fly so high and it would be difficult to do. Instead, fire officials or law enforcement officers are expected to use technology that jams signals to crash drones.


Vickers told The Associated Press that the state highway patrol and National Guard already have the technology.


"The redneck in me is just to shoot the damn thing," Vickers told lawmakers, adding that it was much more "humane" to jam the drone's signal.


He said the technology allows officials to target a specific drone and can be used without hurting other nearby aircraft or technology.


It does not appear any state currently allows a drone to be disabled specifically for flying over a wildfire. Louisiana has a law allowing police or firefighters to disable a drone if it endangers the public or an officer, said Amanda Essex, who researches state unmanned aircraft policies for the National Conference of State Legislatures.


Gov. Gary Herbert is expected to sign the bill into law within days.


The Republican said before the vote that the costs of fighting a small wildfire burning about 300 miles south of Salt Lake City would have been several million dollars if five drone flights hadn't interfered.


"Now we're way past, north of $10 million because we had to ground aircraft all because of a drone," Herbert said.


The Washington County Sheriff's Office has been investigating drones flying near the fire, which is burning on a rocky ridge above the town of Pine Valley, but no arrests have been made or suspects identified. The sheriff's office has offered a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.


A handful of states, including Utah, have laws making it a crime to fly a drone that interferes with manned aircraft or firefighting operations. Those laws could be used to charge someone flying near wildfires or interfering with firefighters using tankers, helicopters and other manned aircraft.


Earlier this year, Utah lawmakers considering allowing law enforcement to shoot down drones that interfere with emergency workers, but they backed away from the idea. Other states have proposed shooting down drones, but it hasn't become law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.


Utah instead passed a law earlier this year making it a crime to fly the unmanned aircraft near a wildfire. The penalties involved fines of up to $2,500 and jail time if a drone flying near a fire stops aircraft from flying or dropping water or retardant. If a drone actually collided with an aircraft or caused it to crash, the drone pilot could face up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.


Under the legislation approved Wednesday, those fines would all be higher, with the maximum fine at $15,000.


Rep. Brian Greene, R-Pleasant Grove, was one of two lawmakers to vote against the legislation. He said he had no problem disabling drones but was concerned that lawmakers were enhancing fines on a law so new that no one had even been cited yet.


The law would also allow courts to make a drone pilot pay damages.

[Sombeech]

How many of these people do you think have even touched a drone? And they are the ones asking DRONE PILOTS to get educated.

Look I'm all for prosecuting idiots who fly in the fire zone, penalize them.

But to ground an entire fleet for hours because a plastic toy was spotted within a half mile of the flight pattern? Some of these decision makers should be SPANKED for wasting tax dollars and delaying the fire control.

Touch one of these drones, just touch it. See how fragile they are. Then you might understand that it's foolish to ground the fleet. But I still emphasize my point that the drone pilots should be penalized, but harsher fines aren't going to clear the skies. Some of those Youtube hits are priceless. Hell, ban them from YouTube, that would probably do the trick.

[Sombeech]

For reals tho'



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[Glenn]

I'm sorry, I'm all for electronic disabling of channels used for any kind of model aircraft (whether multi-rotor or airfoil) within a fire-fighting zone. California had multiple-instances of this last year and the delays were costly. Frankly, there should be similar zones around commercial airports.

I think the new FAA rules are draconian and too-broad, so I sympathize there.

[Sombeech]

I agree these drones shouldn't be in the area, but even with steep fines and penalties, it will continue.

The only option where the fire crews can have any control, is if they learn more about these things and what they can/can't do. Such as, fly more than 25 minutes. So, grounding a fire fleet for hours is just cray cray.

I am also in support of some measure where the fire crews can be on the offensive with the drones where they shouldn't be. There are "net guns" being developed, or even throwing a bunch of string in the general area would have a good chance at bringing it down.

But I'm very discouraged when I hear these guys have to delay their work or rescue efforts because of a drone. They need to be more offensive, and passing laws and penalties is not the answer.