Flying near emergencies and wildlife

You must consider the people and the environment around you – before you take-off.

Flying near emergencies

You must not fly your drone during emergency operations. Flying your drone near emergencies can cause safety hazards to response teams in the air and on the ground.

Using your drone to film or see a fire front might be tempting, doing so could hamper emergency services and break the drone safety rules.

If you fly – other firefighting and rescue aircraft can't.

For your safety and others, do not fly your drone during:

• natural disasters – bushfires, floods, electrical storms, hurricanes and cyclones
• emergency operations – traffic accidents, tactical response, training or rescue operations.

If an emergency service is operating nearby please keep your drone on the ground or gain permission from the emergency agency before flying.

Check your local fire authority for the latest updates and warnings:

• National Aerial Firefighting Centre
• New South Wales Rural Fire Service
• Australian Capital Territory Rural Fire Services
• Victoria Country Fire Authority
• Queensland Fire and Emergency Services
• Tasmania Fire Service
• South Australian Country Fire Service
• Western Australia Department of Fire and Emergency Services
• Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Services

Flying near marine and wildlife

To protect our amazing wildlife, some states and territories have environmental laws you must follow when you fly.

Before taking off, check your local laws and make sure you're doing the right thing.

For example, in New South Wales you must not fly a drone within 100 m of marine mammals. In South Australia, drones must be at least 300 m from any marine mammal.

Eagles, hawks and falcons are not drone fans. If you fly too close, your drone could become their next target – just like this one.

Flying in national parks and forest reserves

There are more than 600 national parks in Australia covering more than 28 million hectares of land. That's about 10 times the size of Tasmania.

To protect animal and plant life and visitors, many states and territories have rules about using drones in national parks and forest reserves. In many parks and reserves, you must apply to fly.

For safety reasons, a permit is often required for drone use in commercial forests.

Before you fly, you should check your state or territory laws:

• New South Wales (NSW)
• Victoria (VIC)
• Tasmania (TAS)
• South Australia (SA) - National parks
• South Australia (SA) - Forestry SA forest reserves
• Western Australia (WA)
• Northern Territory (NT)
• Queensland (QLD)
• Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

There may also be laws that apply to the launching and landing of drones in your local park or sports oval. Check if local laws apply before you fly on council land.