Seems like everyone flying a drone these days is a dickhole. I’m wondering if they should legalise little SAM launchers for anti drone defence. Make it run on compressed air and have some sticky bomb payload.
Shouldn’t the headline read “Firefighter, possibly inebriated, sprays $2200 quadcopter”?
Unauthorized toy zooming around with unknown intentions in a controlled fire scene?
If I were fireground commander, which was once my career, I would either order this very action or protect the firefighter if she did it on her own initiative.
I would also confiscate or spray a RC 4x4 truck with a comcorder.
The job is to fight the fire, not be distracted in a very dangerous situation by a well off lookeyloo with an expensive toy.
I want my firefighters to have full attention on protecting lives, property, and environment; not a damn drone zooming around distracting them from their jobs.
And if you think we need to train against distractions like drones just realize that there are dozens of sounds, smells, visual signs, and feel that have to be monitored for minor changes which might mean sudden death, a drone moves and makes unusual sound, it should catch the attention of a good firefighter.
If you think this is ok, then you would also have to be supportive of drones buzzing cars in high traffic areas, auto races, and all sporting events.
I’ve heard of them flying over some open air locker rooms / changing rooms in Austin. Not cool.
So if a drone turns up you want them to actively stop doing their jobs and concentrate on getting rid of somethign that is not actually stopping them in any way?
I’d rather they just, y’know, put out fires n shit.
Smug reply. I am concerned with the lives of my firefighters and the community, if I can safely eliminate a danger to them I will, sometimes this is possible sometimes not depending on the resources.
(edit)I will break a drone like I will break a window or vent a roof in correctly doing my job as commissioned by the community to perform.
Yes, we as a society are working out what is acceptable IRT drones.
Just be aware that when the government or their “contractor” calls their drone-flying “anti-terrorism-related”, it’s just too bad if you don’t like it.
Get used to your new overlords.
They’d best kill off any dogs barking and birds chirping in the area too, then spray down any onlookers that’ve gathered at the scene to watch.
So a drone that is simply watching you do something and not interfering in any way with your job is safe then. Glad we got that cleared up.
in your opinion, yes. As far as that gets ya out there.
And in @Dobby’s opinion too don’t foget
Police are universally dispatched to keep gawkers and other people out of the fireground, so the firefighters can get the job done and there is not another injured idiot diluting the EMS personnel or blocking the operations. Police are in my experience are the ones who have called animal control the times that was a problem, and with a fire it can be a big animal panic problem. I am feeding the trolls by asking but, what do you people not understand about emergency situations and lives at risk vs drone fun time?
Why attach a dollar amount to every drone story? It’s a luxury item, bro, no matter how you crash it.
What do you not understand about how, certainly in this case, the drone was in no way stopping any firefighter from saving anyone’s life and that the firefighers were intentionally damaging someone else’s equipment with no justification whatsoever. If they were free to squirt water at flying machines and mill around chatting, this was not an emergency situation.
I’m sure the drone was at a further distance than most onlookers are usually. In fact the fire crew endangered the situation by spraying the drone, which could have lost control and caused damage to people or property.
And though it may not been the case in this instance, drones could prove invaluable to fire teams for checking upstairs areas.
my father in law who is into hunting, expects that out in the country - (if Amazon tries its drone delivery) people will be taking shots at them all the time. I’m more worried about the drones taking shots at us.
Not to be sir crankity oldpants, but I feel more sympathy for people on the ground trying to do their job or wanting some peace, quiet, and privacy than I do some asshole with a $2,000 toy.
I’ve heard planes fly over places like that to. And helicopters!! Maybe anti-aircraft guns should be installed?
In the mop up phase destroying a drone would be akin to breaking a window for fun, not ok. I only have the GIFs and story to go by. In an active fire situation, which drone op is not qualified to assess, I would probably not have the resources to have it knocked down safely even if it interfered with operations. I fully support unlicensed non-invasive experimental aircraft including both manned ultralight and autonomous, but I also trust the fire&rescue culture in the US (unlike police) to discipline and expel criminals within the org and to also to ignore value when when lives are put at risk.
Fire and EMS are forced to daily work with real time lifeboat ethical philosophy, if this was a command decision or a firefighter making a tactical decision I have to assume that there was a good reason.
