The Geology fire in Joshua Tree National Park is 90% contained – and is a good reminder of why drones aren’t allowed to fly in the park.
When a drone is spotted in the area, helicopters aren’t permitted to fly because of the danger drones pose to their much larger family members. This includes fire-fighting helicopters, as well as search and rescue aircraft such as the helicopters that were present at the initial search for Trammell Evans. In the case of search and rescue operations – although citizens offering to search using personal drones comes from a good place, helicopters have much more specialized search capabilities and on-board personal that are experts in the park and what to look for. A single drone in the area can hamper those search efforts.
Drones are also a fire hazard. A crashed drone sparked a 300-acre wildfire outside of Flagstaff Arizona in 2018 – drones carry lithium-ion batteries which can spark and ignite if damaged posing a serious danger as weeds – both invasive and native – are drying out.
With so much amazing aerial footage available of the national park on youtube – we urge you to stay terrestrial in your photo captures, and take in the amazing beauty of the national park by living in the moment – it’s worth it
