Drone Incursions Over Spokane Wildfires Ground Firefighting Aircraft
A multi-agency task force detected dozens of unauthorized drones over Spokane wildfires, causing a temporary grounding of firefighting aircraft
The recent wildfires in eastern Washington state have highlighted the growing concern of drone incursions into restricted airspace. According to Phil Randolph, supervisory special agent with the FBI's Seattle office, a number of firefighting aircraft had to be temporarily grounded for over an hour due to concerns over unauthorized UAS in the restricted firefighting area.
Background
The incident occurred after several highly destructive wildfires struck the area in and around Spokane, resulting in the loss of some 800 buildings and the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. In response to the fires, the FAA had issued a temporary flight restriction (TFR) in five areas near Spokane. The TFRs extended from the surface up to and including 7000 feet MSL.
Counter-UAS Response
The Seattle-based FBI Counter-UAS Task Force was deployed to provide oversight operations for the Boeing Seafair Air Show when news broke that the Spokane-area wildfires were causing evacuations of neighborhoods in residential areas. The task force includes members of the King County Sheriff's Office, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, the Seattle Police Department, and the Washington State Patrol. Spokane County Sheriff's Deputy Doug Hicks, a member of the Counter-UAS Task Force, traveled from Seattle to his hometown to assist the local firefighting and emergency response efforts.
The task force detected a total of 39 unauthorized drones operating in the restricted airspace over two days. The following table shows the number of drones detected each day:
| Day | Number of Drones Detected |
|---|---|
| August 2 | 26 |
| August 3 | 13 |
Mitigation Efforts
Whenever the task force was able to detect an unauthorized drone and determine the pilot's location, they deployed ground intercept teams to contact the drone pilots and tell them to bring their drones down. Although no arrests were made, the team members took the pilots' information and referred the matter to the FAA for possible further investigation and action. The task force used equipment capable of detecting unauthorized drones and bringing them safely to earth through the use of electronic countermeasures and human intervention.
Randolph emphasized the importance of drone pilots checking for FAA restrictions before launching their UAVs. He said the FBI is supportive of legal, authorized drone usage, but drone pilots must abide by FAA regulations and not violate federal law. The FAA's B4UFLY website provides links to several websites to let pilots know whether there are active TFRs in their area.
