TUCSON, Ariz. — Crews fighting the Bighorn Fire were forced to shut down air operations Monday due to a drone flying in the area.
While the consequences of the interference remain to be seen, the Coronado National Forest is reminding the public to not fly drones in the area of an active wildfire.
"When we work on fires we set temporary flight restrictions in place. Our firefighting aircraft communicate with each other and with forces on the ground. When an aircraft, such as a drone, enters the restricted air space we have no way of communicating with the pilot, so we must ground our aircraft. And precious time is lost," said the forest service on its Facebook page.
As of the most recent update, the Bighorn Fire has burned 2,300 acres in the Catalina Mountains at just 10 percent containment.
