Two unauthorized drones interfered with aerial firefighting operations last week as crews battled a wildfire in Garland County, Arkansas. Regine Skelton of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Forestry Division told KARK-TV that the drones limited the agency’s air response.
The department issued similar guidance in August, warning that unauthorized drones can ground firefighting aircraft, slow emergency response and create airspace hazards. No details have been released about the drones, their operators or how long the latest interruptions lasted.
Drone interference has also affected wildfire operations elsewhere in the U.S. The Interior Department recorded 53 unauthorized drone incursions during wildfires in 2025, 44 of which directly interfered with or threatened aerial firefighting operations. As of May, the agency had documented four additional incursions in 2026.
Easy way to handle, Shoot down any unauthorized drones. This way 1) it’s out of the way and 2) you know have the evidence to find the owner.
A couple of good skeet shooters should be able to handle this
Scott 320: Problem would be risk of starting a fire as wires short in the crash of drone.
There are methods of taking control of some drones and either commanding return to origin (presumably with coordinates of it displayed) or commanding it to land for police to examine it.
Though I wonder if cheap drone can be identified from examining it.
Police! Need police, with capability to deal with drones. Vote for more police resources.
The southern border of America now uses equipment to shoot down drones with laser beam precision. Beiing used in surveillance, it’s purported to be drug and human trafficking drones where US border security monitor opportunities to smuggle illegal aliens and/or drugs. The novel use of drones to see where US border security is low allows border security to identify friend or foe with near instant destruction of illegal drone activity. State and federal forestry may be forced to call in support of these laser weapons during fire fighting season to prevent services from being grounded when needed during wild fires.
I bought a Dronetag RIDER to detect drones that transmit Remote ID and locate the drone as well as the operator. Police use these things to find drones too. Not all drones transmit Remote ID but many of them do. I use mine in my airplane as well to detect drones within about 3 miles. It’s a federal offense to shoot a drone down, just like it would be to shoot at a manned aircraft. I expect uAvionix to add Remote ID receivers to ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot similar to ADS-B receivers so you can see both types of traffic on the same app.