Canadian ‘Super Scooper’ plane grounded after hitting civilian drone over Los Angeles wildfires
The damaged plane will be prioritized for repair and should be back up flying by Tuesday, officials said at a Monday news conference.
A house is threatened as the Palisades Fire grows in the mountains in the community of Topanga, California, on January 9. (Photo credit: David Swanson/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
(CNN) — Los Angeles authorities have vowed to prosecute illegal drone flights after a civilian drone collided with a Canadian “Super Scooper” aircraft fighting the Palisades Fire Thursday, forcing it to be grounded.
The specifically designed CL-415 firefighting planes are used to scoop up more than 1,500 gallons of ocean water to drop on active fires.
The plane in question, Quebec 1, “sustained wing damage and remains grounded and out of service,” Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Erik Scott said, adding that there were no reported injuries.
The damaged plane will be prioritized for repair and should be back up flying by Tuesday, officials said at a Monday news conference.
AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate ranges between $250 billion and $275 billion in damage and economic loss due to the fast-moving, wind-fueled fires in Southern California as of Jan. 13.
The collision caused the temporary grounding of all aircraft responding to the Palisades Fire, The War Zone reported, citing Cal Fire. It was one of the two such planes deployed to the site, The War Zone said.
“These fire suppression efforts using aircraft is probably the most effective tool that our firefighters have against fighting these fires to help contain them,” Akil Davis, FBI assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles field office, told CNN on Saturday.
“When you take one plane out of commission like that, it’s going to impact the speed in which the fire grows, it’s going to cause loss of property, potentially loss of life, and it’s a danger to everybody all around,” Davis continued.
The FBI is seeking the public’s help in identifying the operator of the drone flight, which the agency said is personally owned, Davis said.
The plane sustained a three-by-six-inch hole in its wing from a privately-owned drone, some pieces of which authorities were able to recover, said Davis.
CNN has contacted California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for comment.
Anyone flying a drone in the restricted airspace over the fires without permission may face legal consequences, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a Friday morning news conference.
“You will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, and you will be punished to the full extent of the law,” said the district attorney.
Marrone added: “Our federal partners behind the scenes are going to be implementing procedures to be able to follow drones in our two large fire areas, and they will be able to identify who the operator of that drone is.”
“The most important thing to know is that if you fly a drone at one of these brush fires, all aerial operations will be shut down, and we certainly don’t want to have that happen,” the fire chief said.
It is a violation of federal law to fly drones in areas where the Federal Aviation Administration instituted a temporary flight restriction in Southern California due to the wildfires, Davis said. Potential penalties for the offense can range from significant fines to prison time, or a combination of both, he said.
Highlighting the dangers in flying drone flights around wildfires, Davis said a hole such as the one sustained by Quebec 1 could spread across the wing and “take the entire aircraft down.”
“… And now we’re dealing with a plane crash in the middle of a historic wildfire for Southern California,” Davis continued. “These drones are nothing to be played with.”
The FBI field office in Los Angeles is working with local and state partners to identify “private citizens that are violating the temporary flight restriction by operating drones in these areas,” according to Davis.
The LAFD released photos of the plane – bearing the tail number C-GQBE – showing a hole in the front of one its wings. C-GQBE is listed on multiple flight tracking websites as a Canadair CL-415.
Two CL-415 planes are sent annually to California from the Canadian province of Quebec, under a 31-year-old agreement between their respective governments, CNN newsgathering partner CBC reported.
Sarah Bensadoun, a spokesperson for Quebec’s Transport Ministry, told CBC the province sends a firefighting team of 25 pilots and 20 technicians.
On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X a video of one of the planes in action in California, saying it was an example of “Neighbours helping neighbors,” using both American-English spelling and the British-English spelling more common in Canada.
The midair collision is now under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration, which said the firefighting aircraft landed safely.
The FAA underscored late Thursday that it “has not authorized anyone unaffiliated with the Los Angeles firefighting operations to fly drones” in restricted airspace put in place over the wildfires.
“The FAA treats these violations seriously and immediately considers swift enforcement action for these offenses,” the agency said.
It said that drones near aerial firefighting can ground air tankers, slow fire response, and cost lives.
The FAA did not specify which agency was operating the aerial firefighting aircraft. Flight tracking data showed Cal Fire air tankers and helicopters as well as those from county fire departments and government contractors operating over the LA wildfires Thursday.
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