As drones fill the skies, some work to shoot them down

A public awareness campaign last year did little to deter the growing number of rogue drones flying near wildfires and forcing firefighters to ground their own aircraft. So this year, the Department of the Interior tried something a little more direct. The agency gave real-time access to data on all active wildfires to two airspace mapping companies as part of a pilot program. One of those firms, Santa Monica-based AirMap, worked with drone manufacturer DJI, which created "geofences" around wildfires. When drones hit the virtual boundary, the geofencing software overrides the flight controller and forces them to hover in place.