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Wildfire
FAA Drops Section 2209 NPRM, DJI FCC Deadline Looms, and 218 Wildfire Drone Incursions in 2025
Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. I have five stories for you this week — it’s a longer one, but there’s a lot of important information packed in. FAA Files Long-Overdue Section 2209 NPRM First up, the FAA has…
218 Wildfire Drone Incursions Last Year, Most Ever Recorded
The U.S. Forest Service reported 218 drone sightings over active wildfires in 2025, more than the previous seven years combined. Most happened during the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles, where 184 drones entered restricted airspace, as the Rogue…
After Lahaina, Hawaiian Electric Bets on Drone Inspections
Two and a half years after a downed power line sparked the fire that killed 102 people and erased most of Lahaina, Hawaiian Electric is flying drones over every island it serves, as Maui News reported. The utility has contracted…
Airbus Flexrotor Takes Night Watch on Federal Wildfire Contract, Eyes Helicopter Hand-Off
Oregon-based firefighting operator Precision has integrated the Airbus Flexrotor into a federal wildfire contract, using the 25 kg (55 lb) uncrewed aircraft to fly continuous nighttime surveillance while crewed helicopter teams rest. Precision has operated the Flexrotor since 2014 and…
Okanagan Lake DJI Drone Pilot Fined CAD $5,000 After Helicopter Pilot Broke Off Firefighting to Chase Him
A British Columbia court has ordered Kelowna realtor Derek Leippi to pay a CAD $5,000 fine (roughly USD $3,600) for flying a DJI drone from a boat on Okanagan Lake during the 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire, an incident that pulled…
Harvard Students Build Fixed-Wing VTOL Drone to Track Sperm Whales in Dominica
Two Harvard mechanical engineering seniors have built a fixed-wing VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) drone from scratch to help marine biologists locate sperm whales tagged with VHF (very high frequency) transmitters off the coast of Dominica, according to a project…
Oregon Tells FCC: Build Drone Test Sites in Mountains, Not Just Labs
The Oregon Department of Aviation (ODAV) has drafted an eight-point response to the Federal Communications Commission’s April 1 public notice on “Unleashing American Drone Dominance” (GN Docket No. 26-74), and it reads less like a bureaucratic comment filing and more…
ACLU releases major drone surveillance report, House passes ACERO Act, and South Carolina considers restrictive drone bill
Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have three stories for you this week. The ACLU releases a major report on drone surveillance and airspace restriction. The House passes the ACERO Act for wildfire drone operations. And a questionable…
Japan Deploys Drones for Nighttime Wildfire Mapping
When a wildfire tore through Mount Ogi in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, ground crews couldn’t reach it and helicopters stopped flying at dark. That’s when the drones went to work. Blue Innovation Co., Ltd. conducted nighttime aerial imaging flights over the…
House Passes ACERO Act Unanimously, Sending Drone Wildfire Bill to Senate
The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 390, the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) Act, by a unanimous vote on February 24, 2026, sending the bipartisan wildfire drone bill to the Senate. Sponsored by Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA-20)…
Seneca’s Aspen Firefighting Drones Face the Real Test: Can They Suppress a Fire Before Humans Arrive?
Seneca‘s autonomous firefighting drones are heading to Aspen, Colorado this fire season, and the question fire chiefs have been asking for years is finally getting a field answer: can drones actually suppress a blaze before a human crew reaches the…
Drones Light the Fire at Pisgah National Forest
The U.S. Forest Service used a modified Freefly Alta X carrying Drone Amplified’s IGNIS aerial ignition system to conduct prescribed burns at the Wilson Ridge unit in Pisgah National Forest last weekend, treating 290 acres of hazardous fuel in terrain…