VIDEO: Months after a drone reportedly delayed initial air attack on a wildfire that threatened Sisters last summer, Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Ore., is co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation to address the issue.
The Wildfire Aerial Response Safety Act would require the Federal Aviation Administration to study the impact of drones entering wildfire airspace and how to stop it.
The Flat Fire started on Aug. 21 near Culver and spread quickly toward Sisters. The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) reported that a drone delayed the aerial attack on the fire by nearly a half-hour.
“There was a recreational drone flying in and over the area as the initial attack was beginning. There was about 26 minutes during that critical incident response that we couldn’t fly water, air attack, anything over that fire area because that drone was there,” ODF Public Information Officer Derek Gasperini said at the time.
