In late June, the Lake Fire burned through 30,000 acres of California wilderness in San Bernardino county. In order to keep the flames from encroaching on an area of nearby houses, the US Forest Service sent three planes filled with fire retardant—a DC-10 and two smaller planes—to dump on an area of the fire. That cargo never reached its intended target, however, because the low-flying planes had to turn back when they encountered a drone flying about 800 or 900 feet off the ground. The DC-10 was able to deposit its flame retardant in another location, but the two smaller planes had to jettison their loads in order to land.

The aborted mission cost the US Forest Service $10,000. Now, lawmakers are introducing legislation to make sure it doesn't happened again.

Last week, California representative Paul Cook (R-Apple Valley) introduced H.R. 3025 to the House of Representatives, which would make it a criminal offense to interfere with fire fighting efforts on federal land. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard that aerial firefighting was brought to a grinding halt because a reckless individual decided to fly a drone over the Lake Fire,” Cook said in a statement. “Not only did it put the lives of aerial firefighters in jeopardy, but the loss of air support for fire crews allowed the wildfire to spread.” Cook's district is in Eastern California, just north of the area that burned in the Lake Fire.

Cook is calling his bill the Wildfire Airspace Protection Act of 2015, and he proposes that flying a drone around fire fighting activities ought to carry a fine as well as the potential for up to five years of jail time.

Similarly, a California assemblyman and a senator are proposing a state bill that would increase fines and add potential jail time to convictions for people caught interfering with efforts to fight a fire.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) and State Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado) want to increase the penalty for interfering with fire fighting efforts in California from a $1,000 fine to a maximum $5,000 fine. Ars spoke to Gaines' consultants as they finalized the wording on the bill, and they said that the bill would also authorize up to six months of jail time if the drone interference is considered intentional and reckless. The consultants said that the bill specifies that drone pilots whose activity was not ruled to be reckless can be fined between $200 and $2,000, depending on the circumstance.

Gatto previously told Southern California paper the Press Register that he would be looking to instate a $25,000 maximum fine for drone pilots caught flying over wildfires. Gatto's communications director, Eric Menjivar, said simply that the assemblyman would be looking to impose the highest possible maximum fine, although “that number could be completely different in the bill, we're going to try to negotiate it and get it as high as possible,” Menjivar added.

“It’s probably neat for people who have drones to observe a local fire this way,” Gatto told the Press Register last week. “But we just can’t let people interfere with aircraft.”

Drone traffic has been problematic for regulators and legislators as the unmanned vehicles have become more available to the general public. Ill-fated drone flights have led the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to rule that all civilian drones must fly at altitudes less than 400 ft, and drones are forbidden from flying near the White House, near airports, and near stadiums.

Listing image by Don McCullough