(July 25, 2016) As reported here last week, Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert has signed a bill into law Monday that deals directly with aerial drones. House Bill 3003 was passed during a special session of the Utah State Legislature, and enhances penalties for operating drones in flight-restricted areas during wildfires.
The new law enhances penalties for drone enthusiasts who ignore the rules, and also authorizes law enforcement officers to neutralize drones in specific instances.
To help educate drone operators about where not to fly, DJI, a maker of unmanned aerial vehicles, and AirMap, a provider of airspace intelligence and navigation services for unmanned aircraft, have added real-time wildfire alerts to their geofencing data to prevent unauthorized drones from interfering with firefighting operations.
Using information obtained directly from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s incident command system, AirMap’s services immediately inform drone pilots of closures.
“Through our partnership with DJI and other drone manufacturers and application developers, more than 70 percent of the drones operated in the United States now benefit from wildfire information in real time,” said Ben Marcus, CEO of AirMap.
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