Drone grounds air attack in Calif. wildfire

Colin Atagi and Denise Goolsby | The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun

Show Caption Hide Caption Mandatory evacuations for the Lake Fire The Lake Fire forced people and animals to evacuate Thursday. (June 25, 2015)

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The 25,599-acre Lake Fire spread significantly in the San Bernardino Mountains of California because of a drone that grounded air attack operations and limited firefighting efforts, fire officials said Thursday.

"It's not just the fact that it shut us down — the fire certainly grew," forest aviation officer Mike Eaton said during a news conference at the San Bernardino Forest Airtanker Base on Thursday.

The fire's expansion reduced containment, which dropped from 27% Wednesday night to 21% Thursday morning and again to 19% that evening.

Meanwhile, firefighters also struggled against wildfires in Northern California, Oregon and Alaska.

Eaton, who was in the air on Wednesday when the drone was discovered, is in charge of aviation operations in the San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests.

The effects of the lost time could be compounded by the fact that flames could slip through the untreated terrain.

"We weren't able to complete the line that we were working on so we had gaps in the retardant, so the fire is going to progress through the retardant, possibly," Eaton said.

Eaton stood near the tarmac at the airbase as he described the chain of events in front of a bank of TV cameras and a large crowd of reporters. Fire officials gathered the media together to get the word out: "If you fly, we can't."

About 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, one of the air tactical group supervisors over the incident encountered a drone — which Eaton also referred to as a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems). All refer to an aircraft with no pilot.

The drone passed between an aircraft flying at 11,500 feet — and a lead plane at 10,500 feet — at a 500-foot separation.

"Not a near miss with respect to an incident, but certainly an aircraft in our airspace we were not prepared for," Eaton said. "Not having communications with that aircraft, we shut down our fixed-wing operation. We were working the south side of the Lake Fire near San Gorgonio peak at very high altitudes."

Rimrock resident Bert Franklin, who was among those evacuated early Thursday due to their proximity to the fire, said he noticed Wednesday that aircraft weren't battling the fire. Shortly after, he said smoke from the fire grew.

On Thursday, he heard about the drone and suspected there could be a connection.

"It would make you wonder if that's what poofed up the fire," said Franklin, 75. "That's a major problem."

Eaton described the drone as orange or red in color with about a four-foot wingspan. It was illegally flying in Temporary Flight Restricted Airspace.

"We're not able to track the aircraft back to its source or whoever was controlling it," he said. "With that, we shut the aircraft down for the rest of the day — it limited our ability to fight the fire."

Aircraft could be seen dropping retardant on the fire on Thursday. By that point, smoke had grown into a gigantic plume and it could be seen for miles across the High Desert and Coachella Valley.

As the blaze strengthened, law enforcement officials ordered residents living north of Pioneertown to evacuate early Thursday. Burns Canyon resident Gary Alger, 68, said officials alerted residents about 1 a.m. and he left home at 5 a.m. after grabbing important legal documents, clothes and metal detectors.

Hours later, he was among the residents gathered outside Pappy & Harriet's, where firefighters set up a makeshift informational station in Pioneertown.

"Hell's yes, I'm worried," Alger said.

The atmosphere in and near Pioneertown has changed significantly over the past week.

Just two days after the June 17 fire began and as a thick layer of smoke covered the High Desert, residents had little concern about the fire and most people went about their daily business.

On Thursday, fire trucks were scattered everywhere and at least five cars parked outside Pappy & Harriet's at any given time. People were rushing to the information station for the latest updates while others sought details from the waiting firefighters.

Burns Canyon and Rimrock are under mandatory evacuations and Pioneertown is under a voluntary evacuation. Thursday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff warned residents in the Lake Williams, Erwin Lake and Lake Baldwin area to prepare to evacuate if it becomes necessary. As of 6:30 p.m., the fire was 1.5 miles east of the first predestined point set up by fire officials to determine when evacuation is necessary.

An evacuation center is set up at Copper Mountain Community College in Joshua Tree and people may drop off pets at the Yucca Valley Animal Shelter or Yucca Valley Equestrian Center.

There were no evacuees at the college Thursday morning, although campus officials said they've received phone calls from residents inquiring about the evacuation center.

Officials say the Lake Fire, which was reported about 4 p.m. June 17, could burn for another week.

In Northern California, a wildfire has grown to more than 26 square miles in inaccessible terrain south of Lake Tahoe and has led to some voluntary evacuations, officials said Thursday.

No buildings have been damaged, but the small mountain town of Markleeville is under a voluntary evacuation warning, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Several campgrounds were evacuated earlier in the week, and two highways have been closed.

About 900 firefighters are battling the blaze ignited by lightning Friday about 20 miles west of the Nevada border and they had the blaze 15% contained.

In Alaska, fires are spreading, but there have been no new evacuations from threatened communities.

Twenty-one new fires were logged in the state on Wednesday, according to the latest figures available. That brings the total to nearly 300 fires burning almost 945 square miles, with much of the activity in Alaska's dry and hot interior. Some places are so smoky that flights have been grounded, even for fire crews.

The latest numbers show a growth of more than 300 square miles from the official tally of the day before.

Fire information spokesman Tim Mowry said that's not surprising, given the number and sizes of fires in the state.

A wildfire scorching a remote part of southwestern Oregon has grown to more than 8 square miles, but hundreds of firefighters have worked to get it more than halfway contained.

Incident commander Doug Johnson said heat, lower humidity, gusty winds and possible thunderstorms are expected this week, which will test the containment lines. He says firefighters will remain vigilant.

The lightning-sparked blaze started June 11 and is burning in the Rogue-River Siskiyou National Forest.

Contributing: The Associated Press