KIFI reported that all air operations were shut down on the Grassy Ridge Fire north of Idaho Falls, Idaho after a near midair collision between a drone and a helicopter on August 1.
Below is an excerpt from an article at KIFI’s web site:
Officials say the[helicopter] pilot was fortunate enough to have spotted the other aircraft just in time to take evasive action and narrowly avoid a midair collision.
A photo of a white pickup truck speeding away from the area of the near miss was taken by a flight crew member.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office was notified and Law Enforcement officers were dispatched to the area.
All aircraft in use for fighting the Grassy Ridge Fire were immediately grounded and will remain so, hampering the fire suppression and repair efforts, until it can be verified that the airspace within the TFR over the fire is safe to fly in again.
The 99,502-acre Grassy Ridge Fire has a fireline completely around it for days, but Incident Commander Taiga Rohrer is calling it 97 percent contained.
On or about July 29 fire officials posted this message on InciWeb:
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Reid.
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