The Bureau of Land Management, an agency of the US Department of the Interior, has authorised a Spokane-area law enforcement task force to disable unauthorised drones entering restricted wildfire airspace. The move followed repeated incursions that grounded firefighting aircraft over three major fires.
Officers may use electronic countermeasures instead of shooting drones from the sky. Critical incident team spokesperson Tom Stokesberry said Monday's unauthorised flights prompted the measure. Aircraft were grounded for nearly two hours during the hottest part of the day.
