Graig Graziosi

The Republic | azcentral.com

Firefighters battling the Arizona wildfires have a new threat to worry about: drones.

A pair of drones were heard Wednesday in airborne crews' operating area at the southern end of the Cedar Fire, which is burning about 10 miles south of Pinetop-Lakeside and Show Low, officials said.

Anyone determined by law enforcement to have endangered manned aircraft with their drone or interrupted a firefighting operation can be fined and even jailed, officials said.

Despite their size, drones, sometimes known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or Unmanned Aerial Systems, can substantially damage a helicopter or airplane in a collision. As a result, firefighters cannot operate in airspace where drones are flying.

Jennifer Jones, public affairs spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said she has seen a substantial rise in the number of reported cases of drone flights over firefighting operations.

"There's no centralized method for tracking incidents, but we started to notice the trend of seeing UAVs over fire suppression operations in 2014," Jones said.

In 2015, there were 21 reported cases of public drones flying in air zones where firefighters were operating," she said. "In nine of those instances, the firefighters had to suspend their work due to the presence of the drone."

In 2016, there have been nine reported cases, at least three of which forced fire managers to ground their air crew, Jones said.

According to firefighting officials in Utah, a drone came within feet of a firefighting helicopter there. Drone appearances have been so frequent in Utah this week that fire crews fighting the Saddle Fire have been forced to ground their aircraft three days in a row. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert visited nearby Pine Valley on Wednesday, saying that some evacuations may not have been necessary had the drones not stymied the efforts of the firefighters.

The Washington County Sheriff in Utah was offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the individual or individuals flying the drones.

Firefighters in California are also contending with the problem. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a temporary flight restriction over the San Gabriel Complex fire to ensure drones do not interfere with the fire suppression efforts.

Small aircraft and drones caught violating the temporary flight restriction will face serious criminal charges.

No data were available to explain why people fly their drones over wildfires, but Jones believes the drone pilots likely just are trying to get photos and video of the fire.

"That's what's dangerous and unfortunate about this. You have people who probably just want to have some fun with their drone and get neat images of the fire unknowingly putting firefighters' lives in danger and interfering with their ability to put out these destructive fires," Jones said.

In an attempt to prevent future incidents with drones, the U.S. Forest Service and partner agencies have launched a publicity campaign with the slogan "If you fly, we can't."

The campaign aims to educate the public about the dangers of flying drones near wildfire suppression operations.

Jones expects as the prevalence of drones in society continues to grow, the need for public education campaigns about their safe use will continue to grow. Likening the campaign to the Smokey Bear wildfire prevention campaigns, she anticipates the drone safety campaign likely will be necessary for decades.

The Cedar Fire is now 24 percent contained according to a report from fire officials Thursday morning, although winds were expected to increase in the area. According to officials, the pre-evacuation notice for the communities of McNary, Hon-dah, Pinetop-Lakeside, Show Low and Cedar Creek was still in effect.

Includes information from Associated Press.