B.C. drone pilot convicted of interference during 2023 wildfire in Kelowna

Flames are seen at Lake Okanagan Resort during a 2023 wildfire.

A man who piloted a drone over Okanagan Lake during the destructive 2023 wildfire in Kelowna, B.C., has been convicted of interfering with the government’s fire-suppression efforts.

Derek Leippi pleaded not guilty to the Wildfire Act offence, but was found liable last week in Kelowna provincial court.

The court heard Leippi was trying to capture video of the charred remnants of Lake Okanagan Resort when conservation officers confiscated his drone on Aug. 27 of that year.

He testified that he’d been unaware crews were actively battling a wildfire nearby—but Judge Cathie Heinrichs was not convinced, describing the blaze as a “notable event” for the entire Okanagan region.

“It was common knowledge that the fire was extensive, vast numbers of people were evacuated and displaced, and many people lost their homes and businesses,” Heinrichs said in her Feb. 9 decision.

“A reasonable person would have made inquiries about the status of the fire and whether there was ongoing firefighting activity.”

The court heard conservation officers first spotted Leippi on a boat near the shore, and asked him to leave as a helicopter was bucketing water.

Around that time, the helicopter pilot spotted Leippi’s drone, became irritated, and started trying to dump water onto the device so it would crash into the lake, according to the decision.

After two unsuccessful attempts, the pilot flew off to continue bucketing the wildfire.

Heinrichs concluded that the presence of the drone—and the emotional impact it had on the helicopter pilot—constituted an interference.

“He took a few minutes to attempt to eliminate the drone, due to a potential risk to the helicopter, which prevented him from focusing on the firefighting work,” she said. “During the time he was attempting to eliminate the drone, he could have been halfway back to the fire he was helping to suppress.”

The judge also noted that while Leippi was “co-operative and respectful” with the conservation officers after they approached him and asked him to leave, he did not disclose that he was flying a drone or immediately stop doing so.

Instead, Leippi steered the device closer to the lake to avoid getting in the helicopter’s way. The conservation officers eventually noticed the drone “as a result of the helicopter’s unusual actions” as the pilot was drying to douse it with water, according to the decision.

“Even if he was unaware of the firefighting efforts when he first started his boat trip and filming, at the point when the officers first asked him to move his boat, he was on notice of the firefighting operations and should have immediately retrieved the drone, not simply lowered it and maintained it in flight,” Heinrichs said.

Leippi has not been sentenced. Under the Wildfire Act, drone operators convicted of interfering with suppression efforts can be fined up to $100,000 and sentenced to more than a year behind bars.