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Firefighting plane forced to be grounded after being hit and damaged by civilian drone as warning issued

Home> News> US News

Published 12:27 11 Jan 2025 GMT

Firefighting plane forced to be grounded after being hit and damaged by civilian drone as warning issued

The FAA has issued a warning to any other drone owners

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck

The FAA is investigating a mid-air collision between a plane helping fight the Los Angeles fires and a 'civilian drone'.

On January 9 at around 1:00pm, a Canadair CL-415 Super Scooper plane fighting the LA fires was 'struck by a civilian drone'.

The incident

The Super Scooper plane had flown out to the Pacific Ocean and loaded up on around 1,500 gallons of water before heading back in to target part of the blaze, CNN reports.

Fire Captain II, Paramedic and Public Information Officer for Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), Erik Scott, took to Twitter to share information about the incident explaining the Super Scooper Quebec 1 was 'struck by a civilian drone that was not assigned to the Palisades fire', while flying in the area of the blaze.

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The drone was subsequently flying in an airspace, which has been restricted since Tuesday (January 7).

Scott detailed: "Quebec 1 sustained wing damage and remains grounded and out of service. There were no reported injuries."

The FAA are reported as still investigating the incident to find out who was flying the drone in the restricted airspace with authorities issuing an urgent warning to any other drone owners.

A plane helping fight the LA fires was hit by a civilian drone
A plane helping fight the LA fires was hit by a civilian drone

The warning

Scott's post continues: "We would like to remind everyone that flying a drone in the midst of firefighting efforts is a federal crime and punishable by up to 12 months in prison or a fine of up to $75,000."

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Indeed, Chief Anthony C. Marrone echoed in a press conference: "Flying a drone in a restricted area if not only dangerous but it's illegal.

"We do have our federal partners behind the scenes, are going to be implementing procedures to follow drones in our two large fire areas and they will be able to identify who the operator of that drone is.

The damage to the aircraft (LA County Fire Department/ YouTube/ CNN)
The damage to the aircraft (LA County Fire Department/ YouTube/ CNN)

"The most important thing to know is if you fly a drone at one of these bush fires, all aerial operations will be shut down and we certainly don't want to have that happen."

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With the presence of a drone causing the grounding of all aircraft this subsequently slows emergency response to the fires and risks lives.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a statement reading: "The FAA treats these violations seriously and immediately considers swift enforcement action for these offenses."

UNILAD has contacted the FAA for further comment.

You can support those affected by the fires by donating to the Red Cross online, by calling (800) 733-2767 or texting REDCROSS to 90999.

Featured Image Credit: CNN/L.A Country Fire Department/Twitter

Topics: Los Angeles, US News, Wildfires, Social Media, Twitter

Poppy Bilderbeck
Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.

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