There seems to be an attraction to the unknown when it comes to people. Humans throughout the ages have always had this annoying tendency to watch an incident as it happens. From car wrecks, building demolitions, to natural disasters. It seems that whenever there’s something happening, you have to see it. That comes hand in hand with humanity’s curiosity I guess, but still, it can be quite a predicament.
For the most part, it can be dangerous – both to the onlooker and to everyone else around.
In cases of car accidents, onlookers slow their own cars down to see what is happening. This historically leads to more car crashes, since people are not paying attention to the road. While this is a common occurrence, people still tend to keep doing it.
Today’s modern times give people even more opportunities to see incidents. No longer are we limited to cars and our eyes. Now, we have drones. Affordable, easily accessible, and can fly at great heights. You can easily control your drone and navigate it to an area, and you can see everything there is to see.
Again this action, like the traditional ways of snooping, present danger to its surroundings.
Bocco Fire Incident:
The Bocco Fire in Eagle County, Colorado is an example. This week a drone was spotted hovering over the fires. The recreational drone of course was unauthorized to be there. It belonged to a user near the area. The owner probably had mild reasons to be there. They probably wanted a snapshot of the fire for their social media. Maybe they wanted video footage of the incident. Or maybe it was just plain curiosity. Regardless, this action proved to have far reaching consequences.
Because a small drone was in the area, the actual air units of responders to the fire could not come in. This is due to fears of the drone colliding and damaging their units. The size of the drone, along with the smoke-filled skies from the fire may lead to trouble. The air space had barely any visibility, so a collision may be possible. This meant that tankers and helicopters of the responders had to delay their actions. The wildfire may have been stopped sooner if they had a clear air space.
The incident took away over an hour of response time before the drone problem was resolved. All because of one individual who just can’t seem to resist seeing a forest fire take place.
