Los Angeles wildfires: Looters dressing up as firefighters, drone hits emergency plane

A fire fighting helicopter drops water as the Palisades fire grows. Pic/AFP

Looting has been a real issue for authorities in Los Angeles, with multiple instances of criminals wading into evacuated areas to steal from deserted houses, including some dressed as firefighters. There have been a number of arrests, including seven in the last two days alone, according to an LAPD spokesperson this morning. "We even made arrests of two individuals that were actually posing as firefighters coming in and out of houses," they said.

In another development, a civilian drone ripped a hole in a firefighting plane, officials said. The number of unauthorised drone incidents over the Los Angeles County fire zones are now "well into the double digits", Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, told our partner network NBC News.

The most serious of those incidents was a civilian drone that ripped a hole in a ‘Super Scooper' plane on Thursday morning as the water-dropping aircraft was flying over the Palisades fire zone. Reports suggest the wing was the part of the plane damaged.

The incident temporarily grounded other firefighting aircraft and put the specialised plane, provided by Canada, out of commission until Monday at the earliest. Investigators have recovered pieces of the drone, which are being examined by the FBI. The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames further.

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