(Source: Huffington Post)
Firefighters in an upstate New York town were caught on video apparently blasting water at a drone that was photographing the scene of a house fire.
The footage above shows the drone flying over the town of Montgomery when it appears to get sprayed (at about the 12-minute mark) by a firefighter on the second floor of the home, and again (at about 12:50) by a firefighter on the ground.
The drone’s operator, John Thompson, wrote on Facebook that the gadget cost $2,200. He accused the firefighters of misconduct, and implied that they can expect a bill for the device.
However, many commenters said Thompson was the one who was out of line.
“If my house were to burn and i seen that drone above my property it wont be there very long,” wrote commenter Mike Thompson. “I do NOT want my house being recorded if its on fire or for a whatever reason by some drone.”
Comments on the YouTube page were more supportive of Thompson, with some pointing out that firefighters don’t turn their hoses on people recording from street level.
News12 reports that the fire department had not responded to a request for comment, and that police were investigating.
Thompson said the firefighters have their priorities mixed up.
“They need to take on more responsibility and worry about their job instead of worrying about what’s out there around them because there’s cameras all over the world,” Thompson told News12.
News12 said firefighters from both the Coldenham and Montgomery fire departments were at the scene, and it’s not clear who took aim at the drone.
Continue Reading at HuffingtonPost.com…
Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com
Just as a frame of reference- I’m a career firefighter that recently started a business involving drone use for firefighting, as well as other purposes. I’m a huge advocate of safety and the proper use of the technology on emergency scenes, as they definitely have a use under the right circumstances.
That being said, I would have knocked this guy’s drone out of the sky with a hose as well, if possible. The problem is not a bystander filming the scene from a safe distance, it’s the fact that he is flying directly above a fire scene. A malfunction (especially common with DJI drones) has the very real possibility of injuring someone.
If he kept the same lateral distance with his drone that pedestrians were required to keep, there would not have been an issue.