Unauthorized Drones Divert Firefighting Aircraft at California’s Timber Fire

By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill

Unauthorized drones flying in restricted airspace continue to cause interference with aerial firefighting operations at the scenes of wildfires across the country.

In a recent example of this disturbing trend, unauthorized drone flights prompted aircraft engaged in firefighting at the scene of the Timber Fire in the Big Sur region of California, to move their operations to battle another part of the fire.

As of September 21, the Timber Fire, which continues burning along the Big Sur coast, had burned more than 25,000 acres and was about 60 percent contained.

Firefighters with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) reported three separate incursions by unauthorized UAVs within the area under an FAA-imposed temporary flight restriction (TFR). Josh Silveira, the Monterey County UAS coordinator for Cal Fire said in an interview that the drone incursions took place over three consecutive days, near the Keyhole Arch at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, he said.

In at least one of the incidents, crews had to adjust their tactics in combatting the fire, moving into a less crowded airspace to avoid the possibility of drone collisions with manned firefighting aircraft. The Cal Fire crews were able to pick up the radio signals from the UAVs with Remote ID sensing equipment, and transmit the pilot location information to local law enforcement officials, who unfortunately were not able to locate the pilot or pilots.

“Because the scope of our TFR is so big it’s difficult to guess where people are going to be and have law enforcement officers in the right place,” said Silveira. One of the unmanned aircraft was registered with the FAA, but two were not, adding to the difficulty in identifying the pilots, he said.

Some of the drone interference occurred near a “dip site,” a water source where manned helicopters scoop up water to be used to douse the inferno.

“It was about one nautical mile from the dip site to where the drones were flying out of. We sequenced those aircraft out of that area and put them working on a completely different piece of line, which took them away from their priority project, which was a slop-over on the western edge of the fire,” Silveira said.

He added that the pilot or pilots of the errant drones apparently thought that it was safe to fly over that particular area of the fire, but that was not the case.

“We monitor a lot of the social media traffic, and on those posts, the common thing that people were saying was, ‘Hey, this fire’s got a very slow tempo at this point,’” he said. “But it makes no difference to us if it’s a fast-paced, rapidly evolving incident, or if we’re on that slower mop-up phase of fire. Those crewed assets still have no idea where these drones are.”

Pilots of drones not found

In a press statement, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office warned of the dangers of operating a drone in areas of active firefighting operations.

“Unauthorized drone flights can force firefighting aircraft to suspend operations, delaying efforts to protect lives, property and communities. Even a small drone can pose a serious collision hazard to helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft operating at low altitudes,” the statement reads.

In an interview, sheriff’s department spokesman Andres Rosas said his office is not conducting any current investigations into the drone interference incidents.

“We received two separate reports that were made to the sheriff’s office of drones that were being flown, and unfortunately, in both of those cases, we were not able to locate the pilot,” he said.

Rosas said that since TFR violations are considered to fall under federal jurisdiction, the sheriff’s department turned over the information it has on the incidents to the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for further investigation. TSA did not immediately respond to a DRONELIFE email for comment.

Drone operators found to be in violation of flight restrictions in a disaster area may face significant penalties under both state and federal law, including federal civil penalties of up to $20,000, seizure of their drone as evidence and criminal prosecution. California law “prohibits conduct at an emergency scene that impedes emergency personnel and specifically applies to persons operating drones at the scene of an emergency,” according to the sheriff department statement.

U.S. law “makes it a federal crime to knowingly or recklessly operate a drone in a manner that interferes with wildfire suppression law enforcement, or related emergency response efforts. Violations may result in a federal fine, imprisonment for up to two years, or both.”

A growing nationwide problem

Incidents in which authorized drone flights interfere with aerial operations near wildfires and other disaster sites are increasingly being reported across the country. Earlier this month, sightings of unauthorized drones forced the groundingof aircraft fighting a wildfire in Arkansas.

In recent weeks, drone incursions have caused the grounding of aircraft battling the Wrights Spring Fire in Klamath County, Oregon and a series of several highly destructive wildfires in and around Spokane, Washington.

Firefighting officials in California in particular are mindful of the dangers posed by drones flying near manned firefighting aircraft, Linnea Edmeier, Cal Fire aviation communications officer, said. She recalled an incident that occurred in January 2025, in which an unauthorized drone collided with a Super Scooper firefighting plane battling the Palisades fire.

Although it did not result in any injuries, the accident knocked a hole in the plane’s wing, forcing it to be grounded from conducting further operations.

“They didn’t even realize that they had a drone strike until they were on the ground checking the aircraft as they were refueling,” Edmeier said. “If that drone had hit a rotor aircraft, a helicopter, we may be talking about four souls on board that weren’t going home that night.”

She said fire official recognize that drone pilots might just be trying to fly their aircraft to learn about the size and ferocity of fires near their properties, but she urged operators not involved in the firefighting efforts to keep their drones grounded.

 “We understand people looking for information,” she said. “But the decision that the drone operator is making in that moment is really a decision that is going to affect potentially the lives on board of that aircraft and the lives of anybody that might be underneath that aircraft.”