The Federal Aviation Administration will push to prosecute anyone flying a private drone over the Garden Grove chemical incident as emergency crews continue to tend to the crisis, Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Capt. Brian Yau said.
A temporary flight restriction is in place over the affected area of Garden Grove until Tuesday, barring the use of private drones and aircraft at the scene. OCFA is asking the public to refrain from using their drone over the restricted zone since it can interfere with their emergency response.
“When there are drones in the air, all of our drone operators have to land the drones for the safety of the drones to prevent it from being damaged,” Yau said. “And when that happens, when it’s landed, we no longer have surveillance on the firefighters, the hazmat team on the ground. So, we lose that surveillance, we lose the thermal imaging capabilities. They lack all that intel that they need to complete the operation.”…