California has a serious fire problem in this drought — and a serious drone problem that”s increasing fire danger to lives and property.

Fortunately, lawmakers are on it.

The lunacy at the San Bernardino Mountains fire last week was the last straw. Three airborne crews were grounded for safety reasons when five (yes, five) drones were seen flying over the fire, which wound up destroying 20 vehicles on the Interstate 15 pass between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Nobody died and no houses were destroyed, but it”s only a matter of time.

So Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Glendale, and Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado, have introduced SB 168 to allow firefighters to disable or destroy any drone interfering with their work. A companion bill, SB 167, would increase the fines for flying drones in wildfire zones from $1,000 to $5,000.

These laws need to be enacted and implemented as quickly as possible; firefighters already have had to ground their aircraft in at least four California fires in the past year because of drones.

And while we don”t generally suggest litigation, we”d encourage anyone whose property burns because of a meddling drone to sue the daylights out of its owner.

Like most breakthrough technologies, drones have great potential for good — search and rescue, for example, and even fighting fires. They can be fun toys, too. But they”re subject to malicious use. After all, our government uses them to assassinate people in other countries.

Then there”s the stupid factor. Some people abandon common sense when they have a new toy. Flying a drone into a wildfire zone where firefighters are risking their lives? Unbelievable. The weight of fire retardants and the unpredictable air currents created by wildfires makes flying conditions especially hazardous. A collision or a quick maneuver to evade a drone could easily claim lives.

Of course it could be worse. Firefighters could get in the way of a gun-firing drone, like the one a Connecticut teenager built to hover and blast away. His video of it went viral. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating whether he broke any laws, but for now the teenager hasn”t been arrested because the incident took place on private property.

We”re still waiting for the FAA to set national regulations for drone use — including, we hope, a requirement to have clearly readable identification numbers, like a license plate, so owners can be tracked when their machines compromise public safety or shoot someone.

President Obama had set a deadline of September to complete the rules, but now they”re not expected until next summer. The process needs to speed up, before things get out of hand.

In the meantime, it”s wise for California to deal with drone problems as they arise.