--- description: The drone operators could be prosecuted for murder if the drones caused delays that led to deaths of any firefighters or civilians title: Officials Looking for People Who Flew Drones Over Ca. Fires image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8313f0596409730b/69885bd4524fc0f024df3ab5/drone-flying.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [fire](/tag/fire/) ## fire Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Officials Are Looking for People Who Flew Drones Over California Wildfires by [Keith Wagstaff / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Keith Wagstaff / NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2015 8:30 PM CUT  Drone with Camera Drone with CameraGetty Images by [Keith Wagstaff / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Keith Wagstaff / NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2015 8:30 PM CUT Officials want to know who flew drones near several wildfires in California’s San Bernardino mountains, causing firefighters to temporarily ground their flame-battling planes. The reward for someone who identifies the drone operators? $75,000. “In the most recent fire, the North Fire, we saw cars and trucks burning on the freeway, we saw homes burn, and we saw families running for their lives,” Jorge Ramos, chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, [said in a statement](http://wp.sbcounty.gov/cao/countywire/?p=2509 "undefined"). “We want to know who was flying drones, and we want them punished,” he said. “Someone knows who they are, and there is $75,000 waiting… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/california-officials-offer-75k-bounty-drones-n401021?cid=par-time-article%5F20150730 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3979354/california-wildfire-drone-search/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3979354/california-wildfire-drone-search/"},"headline":"Officials Are Looking for People Who Flew Drones Over California Wildfires","datePublished":"2015-07-30T20:30:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:45:40.565Z","description":"The drone operators could be prosecuted for murder if the drones caused delays that led to deaths of any firefighters or civilians","url":"https://time.com/3979354/california-wildfire-drone-search/","keywords":["fire","California","Crime","Wildfire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8313f0596409730b/69885bd4524fc0f024df3ab5/drone-flying.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Keith Wagstaff / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8313f0596409730b/69885bd4524fc0f024df3ab5/drone-flying.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"drone-flying","caption":"drone-flying","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/fire/","name":"fire"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3979354/california-wildfire-drone-search/","name":"Officials Are Looking for People Who Flew Drones Over California Wildfires"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"U.S. Wildfires Seen from Space","description":"A video camera aboard the International Space Station captured this footage of the wildfires burning in the Western U.S., including Colorado","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/sDSrAJSM/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2012-06-29T01:01:20.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sDSrAJSM.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3979354/california-wildfire-drone-search/","duration":"PT4M11S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3979354/california-wildfire-drone-search/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```