Man to admit to using drone that collided with Super Scooper during Palisades Fire
A Southern California man admitted to operating a drone that collided with a firefighting airplane during the Palisades Fire as the blaze was charring tens of thousands of acres earlier this month, officials said Friday.
Peter Tripp Akemann, a 56-year-old Culver City man, agreed to plead guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft, federal prosecutors said.
Akemann went to the third floor of the 3rd Street Promenade parking garage on Jan. 9, launched his drone and lost sight of it before the small craft collided with a Super Scooper on loan from Quebec, officials said.
"Firefighters were desperately trying to stop the destruction being caused by the fires and save lives. Critical to those efforts were firefighting aircraft that were conducting all-out assaults in the area surrounding the wildfires," Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally told reporters on Friday.
'Contrary to law and basic common sense, some individuals were recklessly operating drones around the firefighting relief efforts."
The collision caused hole a in the plane, officials said. Though it was able to land safely, that hole knocked the Super Scooper out of service for several days during the heart firefighting efforts.
Akemann is expected to appear in federal court at about 4 p.m. EST on Friday, officials said.
The Palisades Fire had ignited on the morning of Jan. 7 had torched more than 23,000 acres by Friday and was 98% contained, according to California fire authorities.
At least 29 people were killed as flames from the Palisades neighborhood of L.A. and Altadena, north of downtown, blew through the region with horrifically astonishing speed.
Some of Southern California's most desired real estate — on beaches and in canyons and hills — went up in smoke during a terrifying week earlier this month.
Smoke from the Palisades and Eaton Fires was so severe, the Jan. 13 wildcard playoff game between the L.A. Rams and Minnesota Vikings, set for Inglewood, had to move to Glendale, Arizona.
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