Gov't to consider easing regulations to deploy drones in wildfire battles

The government will consider easing regulations on drones to allow the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for efforts to put out large wildfires, officials said Thursday. The envisioned measure was one of three "regulatory sandbox" projects that the Office for Government Policy Coordination has additionally selected in the first half of the year to look into the feasibility of easing or waiving those regulations. Under the current regulations, it is difficult to deploy drones to put out wildfires because drones weighing more than 150 kilograms are classified as aircraft that must obtain permission before flight and are also banned from nighttime flights. Should the use of drones prove effective, nighttime flights and post-operation flight permissions will be allowed. "If the aerial firefighting method using fleets of large drones is expanded, it is expected to help secure the golden time and stop the spread of large-scale wildfires," the office said.