Last week’s fire in Lightner Creek, just west of downtown, gave us all a front-row seat on the blaze, which started as a structure fire but quickly spread due to gusty winds and dry conditions.
Despite the smoke, it was also easy to observe the intensive efforts by fixed-wing and helicopter pilots to counter the fire with retardant and water pulled from nearby ponds in the area.
The aircraft were just one component of a coordinated response by the Durango Fire Protection District, La Plata County Emergency Management, Los Pinos, Upper Pine, Southern Ute Agency Fire Management, Ute Mountain Ute Agency, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.
Thanks go to all involved in fighting the fire – from the dispatchers handling the first radio calls to the hotshot crews on the ground who worked tirelessly to establish a fire break around the perimeter.
That the fire was limited to less than 500 acres and resulted in no loss of life or structures (other than the house where the fire started) is a testament to their efforts.
Many thanks, too, to the American Red Cross and many neighbors, friends and volunteers who helped with evacuations, looked after displaced pets and passed on essential news and contacts to those who were not able to get home.
We can do nothing but condemn, however, the decisions made by drone owners to fly their aircraft near the fire, actions that disrupted the airborne efforts to limit its spread.
Small enough to be virtually impossible to see from a moving aircraft, yet large enough to disable an engine or crack a windscreen and injure a pilot, just the suspicion of drones in an area where tankers, helicopters and spotting aircraft are operating means all those aircraft must leave the area or be grounded.
Near sunset on Wednesday, two planes ready to drop retardant on a section of fire heading toward Durango had to jettison their loads and return to the airport because of a pair of drones flying in the area; a serious waste of time, material and money when containment of the blaze was in doubt.
The Federal Aviation Administration prohibits the use of drones during wildfires and other emergencies, but despite that, more drone interference was reported on Thursday, and again on Saturday, disrupting aerial efforts and endangering aircraft and crews each time.
Reports that law enforcement contacted at least three of the drone operators were welcome, but more action is warranted.
In Arizona, Gene Alan Carpenter is facing 14 counts of felony endangerment for operating his drone in closed airspace near firefighting aircraft. He apparently posted pictures taken from the drone on his website. If guilty, we think he deserves to contemplate his actions from the Yavapai County jail.
Thanks to the efforts of all crews, both on the ground and in the air, a nightmare scenario of the fire jumping U.S. Highway 160 and spreading south into subdivisions was avoided, and the fire was also prevented from spreading far to the north or east toward Durango.
But imagine an aerial tanker, loaded with jet fuel, crashing right in town after colliding with a drone flown near the fire out of curiosity.
Unlikely, yes, but made many, many times more possible because of bad decisions made by locals playing at their “hobbies” with “toys.”
