As firefighters in California are battling wildfires across the state, hobbyist drone operators have impeded their efforts by cluttering airspace. CNN reports that last Friday, firefighting helicopters with water buckets were delayed for 20 minutes by drone operators attempting to capture video footage of a wildfire that spread onto a Los Angeles freeway. It was reported that, “The North Fire torched 20 vehicles on Interstate 15 and incited panic among motorists who fled on foot on the freeway Friday.” The San Bernardino County Fire Department Twitter page tweeted the above poster and the following message at the time:

Back in June, a single drone operator interfered with another firefighting operation in California, according to the Twitter feed of California Firefighters’ Public Information Officer, Daniel Berlant:

CBS Los Angeles reports that this past Monday morning, “A Southern California lawmaker co-introduced legislation in Sacramento Monday that would allow first-responders to disable or damage drones that interfere with emergency operations.” The lawmaker in question, Senator Ted Gaines, released a statement on his official site, specifying that he hoped to use “jamming” technology to disable the nuisance drones. As drone operators use wireless and GPS technology to operate their craft, a jamming device would hypothetically block or interfere with the wireless signals of the drone operators and bring down the unmanned craft. 

CIO points to the potential risks involved in utilizing such technology as “jammers are generally indiscriminate, affecting all devices in an area. “Use of cell phone jammers poses an unacceptable risk to public safety,” according to a FAQ document on jammers by the FCC Enforcement Bureau.

For a lo-fi version of firefighters jamming a drone, skip to 12:39 in the following video to watch them attack an unmanned aircraft with a fire hose.