At this point, every drone hobbyist knows the rules that you don’t fly near aircraft responding to an emergency. But irresponsible dolts still continue to make trouble whenever disaster strikes. A civilian-flown drone collided with a firefighting aircraft over the Palisades Fire on Thursday. And that aircraft, a Canadair CL-415 known as the SuperScooper Quebec 1, has now been grounded due to damage to its wing.
“Quebec 1 sustained wing damage and remains grounded and out of service. There were no reported injuries. The incident is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration,” the L.A. County Fire Department said in a statement posted to X.
The incident happened around 1 p.m. local time and it’s not yet clear how long the firefighting aircraft will be unable to operate. The Quebec 1 was repeatedly scooping up 1,600 gallons of ocean water to dump on the Palisades Fire which has destroyed countless homes in the L.A. area since starting earlier this week.
#Canadian CL-415 Super Scoopers at work in Los Angeles, helping battle the horrendous #LosAngelesWildfires
The Quebec-based aircraft can scoop up 1600 gallons of water in 12 seconds. pic.twitter.com/SXcafJonL6— Binks (@BinkyBaxter1) January 9, 2025
“It’s a federal crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to interfere with firefighting efforts on public lands,” the FAA said in a statement published online. “Additionally, the FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $75,000 against any drone pilot who interferes with wildfire suppression, law enforcement or emergency response operations when temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) are in place.”
The temporary flight restrictions are in place from Jan. 9 to Jan. 23, according to the FAA’s website. It’s not known who may have been flying the civilian drone that collided with the SuperScooper.
The entire metro area of Los Angeles is on edge over the fires, which wasn’t helped by the fact that all of L.A. County received a phone alert on Thursday warning people to evacuate. The alert was only supposed to go out to residents of Woodland Hills near the Kenneth Fire, a new fire that started Thursday, but instead went to everybody in the county of roughly 10 million people.
An arrest was made Thursday of a man suspected of setting a fire in Woodland Hills, according to local news outlet KTLA. The man was detained by citizens who said he had a “propane tank or a flamethrower,” though it’s not clear he was doing anything wrong yet.
“We really banded together as a group,” one of the civilians in the area told KTLA. “A few gentlemen surrounded him and got him on his knees. They got some zip ties, a rope and we were able to do a citizens’ arrest.”
An LAPD spokesman told Fox News that the suspect was arrested around 4:32 p.m. on Thursday and transported to the Topanga Police Station but they “CANNOT confirm any connection to any fire by this suspect at this time.”
Video obtained by local news station FOX LA shows people detaining the man, who hasn’t been identified.
NEW: @FOXLA has exclusively obtained video of a man carrying a blow torch in Woodland Hills, CA Thursday not far from the Kenneth Fire. LAPD says the man is in custody but “can’t confirm any connection to any fire by this suspect”. #CaliforniaWildfires #KennethFire pic.twitter.com/ULwxtnfsdj
— Matthew Seedorff (@MattSeedorff) January 10, 2025
The Palisades Fire just north of Santa Monica is currently at over 20,400 acres with 8% containment, the Eaton Fire near Pasadena is at over 13,900 acres with 3% containment, the Hurst Fire in the San Fernando Valley is at 771 acres at 37% containment, and the new Kenneth Fire in Woodland Hills is at 1,000 acres with 35% containment.
Hundreds of thousands of people are under evacuation warnings or orders and at least 10 people have died so far, according to the L.A. Times. The local weather reports paint a disturbing picture for next week, as rainfall has been at just 3% of the annual average over the past year, according to KCAL, creating dangerously dry conditions. And winds are expected to pick back up around Sunday and Monday.