Coconino National Forest firefighters responded to the Power Fire southwest of Fort Tuthill around 4 p.m. on Tuesday and were able to stop the spread of the fire at 3.1 acres despite the presence of a drone.
Firefighting air attack resources were kept from entering the area because an unmanned aerial vehicle, also known as a drone, was flying over the fire and spotted in the area of operations. Whenever a drone is present firefighting aircraft must be removed from the area, for safety reasons.
With aircraft unavailable, a dozer was used to dig a line around the fire to stop its progress.
Firefighting was also aided by a previous fire treatment in this stand of trees which removed fire fuels from the ground and helped the environment of the area.
Forest Service officials continue to emphasize flying drones over or in close proximity to wildfires is illegal, endangers aviators as well as crews on the ground, and slows operations which potentially could result in the fire increasing in size.
Per the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, 43 CFR 9212.1(f), it is illegal to resist or interfere with the efforts of firefighter(s) to extinguish a fire. Doing so can result in a significant fine and/or a mandatory court appearance.