My friends are in Burbank. They said they're OK but their coworkers and friends have lost their houses. My former manager is on the coast, but he is south, so no fires there currently.
Drones are being used by news crews, PG&E (electric company) and the fire crews to monitor the progress. It is not just people flying them around. That said, I am sure there are private ones out there for no reason - certainly not too bright given the possible fines. Planes and helicopters will not be able to see those drones until it is too late. Interestingly, there was a news show about fire fighting drones being shown at CES that can coordinate together to do the retardant dropping to more effectively create breaks to slow the fire's progress.
One of the news articles had a shot of some idiots going into the neighborhoods and taking selfies with peoples burning houses. Now that is just idiotic. In addition to that, some moron was running around a neighborhood with a blowtorch trying to start more fires... He was captured by residents who saw him and called the police, who arrested him. The fire in that area is believed to be started by him, but is under investigation.
The good news is, the winds will calm this weekend and the fire crews can try to catch up a bit. The BAD news is, it is expected to pick up again by Mon/Tue. Of the two major fires, one was only 3% contained and the other is still 0% even with ~130,000 fire fighters on hand.
The National Guard had to be brought in last night because police were stretched thin trying to prevent looters.
Hopefully, the drone was stuck in the wing, so the buyer/owner can be identified.
The fact that they knew it was a private drone means they will almost certainly find out who it was.
