A drone flying above one of the California wildfires Wednesday morning caused a temporary halt to firefighting operations for more than an hour.
According to SFGate, the drone was discovered hovering above a fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains around 10:30 a.m. local time. Aerial firefighting operations, which involve dropping fire retardant on the flames, had to be stopped to allow authorities to locate the owner of the drone and have it cleared away.
Operations resumed around noon after the drone left the area.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Chris Clark told SFGate, "There's a lot of people trying to put this fire out. This only slows that down."
The Bear Fire began in a building Monday night before spreading to the nearby mountains. Officials said it encompassed 271 acres and was only 10 percent contained Wednesday morning.
It is illegal to fly drones in disaster zones, under which areas affected by the California wildfires fall.
The death toll in the series of several fires that have ravaged northern California was raised to 42 Wednesday morning, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Several vineyards were destroyed in the fires, which could impact the state's $58 billion wine industry.
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