Sheriff's deputies used a drone to track down an arson suspect who allegedly set a palm tree on fire last month, forcing temporary neighborhood evacuations, authorities said Wednesday.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Office received a call just after 6:30 p.m. May 25 about a man using a lighter to set a tree on fire near the Spring Valley Swap Meet in the 6000 block of Quarry Road, according to the agency.
Officials said the fire threatened nearby homes, prompting residents along the 8800 block of Spring Canyon Drive to temporarily evacuate.
As deputies from the Rancho San Diego Sheriff's Station and California Highway Patrol officers searched the ground, a deputy with the Sheriff's Unmanned Aerial Systems Program launched a drone over a riverbed behind Quarry Road.
“The deputy that flew was able to still see the suspect in the same general area, in that dense vegetation and able to identify who it was," Deputy Tyler Muzic told NBC 7.
The drone located the suspect and tracked his movements. The UAS pilot relayed the information to a sheriff's ASTREA helicopter before grounding the drone so firefighting aircraft could safely extinguish the flames, the agency reported.
(Photo: ABC 10)