MANOA, Hawaii (KHON2) — Keep your drone away from emergency scenes was the message from Honolulu firefighters and the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday, Oct. 4.
Civil penalties can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The Honolulu Fire Department used its helicopters in over 400 rescues in 2022. None have collided with rogue drones, but HFD said their presence itself takes attention off of their job.
Officials said reports of rogue drones in emergency airspace have increased — the drones can jeopardize operations because HFD’s helicopter must immediately land or divert its course if an unidentified drone is spotted. Rogue drones can also put patient safety at risk during hiking rescues.
“Our focus is delivering that patient safely from the hiking trail back out to the landing zone,” said HFD helicopter pilot Justin Sato, “now if we’re constantly looking out for this drone as a mid-air collision, we can no longer put 100% focus on that patient retrieval.”
Another big issue is communication.
“With our helicopter and our drone, we can communicate back and forth, we can establish safety. Whereas with a rogue drone, we have no means of communication,” said HFD firefighter I Michael Mendez.
Confusion also plays a role if rogue drones are near an emergency scene; HFD needed to keep an eye on their thermal drone to identify hotspots during a recent fire call in Maili.
“Unfortunately there were so many drones in the air that they were unable to pick out which drone to follow and exactly which one to go ahead and worth with,” Mendez said.
Federal Aviation Administration rules state that at least 1,000 feet of airspace becomes restricted when an emergency is underway, but that is just the minimum. Officials said a good rule of thumb for drone operators is to ground their aircraft if emergency lights or rescue vehicles are visible.
Civil penalties can reach up to $37,000 for violators and the FAA said most operators near emergencies did not even know they were doing something wrong.
KHON2 asked if the majority of these rogue drone operators were careless, clueless or criminal.
“I think they’re — in all sense of and trueness of the word –just ignorant. They’re not aware that they’re not to be operating there,” Puterbaugh said. “So, if I was to pass something on to the public, it’d be real simple. If you see lights, you see an emergency situation, assume that there is a flight restricted area in place at that time.”
Officials added that departments often work together and drone operators should steer clear if they spot police or ambulance lights.
Stolen jewels, boa constrictors killing owners, check out Weird News here
“So, we ask that you please stay away from all emergency operations, not only fires and rescues, but all first responder activity and land your drone if you should encounter an emergency,” Mendez said.