Local Fire Department Accused of Shooting Drone with Hose [Video]

A man who was flying his drone over a Hudson Valley house fire plans on billing the Coldenham fire department for shooting water at his drone and damaging it.

UPI reports that YouTube user, John Thompson was filming a house fire in Montgomery when firefighters turned the hoses on the drone that was carrying his camera. You can see the incident in question at around the 12-minute mark on the video below. It appears that one of the firefighters gestures to the drone right before another firefighter aims and fires his hose at the camera.

After being hit with water, the drone backs up and then returns to capture more footage. That is when it appears as if another firefighter on the ground takes aim at the drone again.

Thompson took to Facebook, writing about the incident and how he believes the fire department was in the wrong. Apparently he was very upset because the posting contains many misspellings and grammatical errors (which we've noted below).

The drone operator says,

this is real miss conduct (sp) on there (sp) part and verry (sp) unprofessional on there (sp) part, My second take off the camera did not record so it look's (sp) like they destroyed a $2,200.00 drone thank's (sp) guy's (sp) for the nice job thank's (sp) guy's (sp) for the nice job your (sp) doing for the community.I have you all on video so if i have to get it payed (sp) for look for the bill thank you and if you all agree with me please comment the new's (sp) was there filming why not me !!!

Comments on the YouTube posting are split. Some viewers are chastising the photographer for possibly putting firefighters in danger. Commenter "Jason Gayler" wrote:

of course they shot at you w/the firehose... your flying over people heads during an emergency reponse... it's a unneeded element on a fire scene. it's a nuisance and a distraction... that's why they block off the streets... to keep the lookey-loos and the distractions at a minimum... so they can have 100% focus... you got shot at w/a fire hose, and you still chose to stick around? that's just blatant (expletive) move in my eyes.

Other commenters rushed to Thompson's defense, like YouTube user "Bunny Boots Inc":

What the firefighters did was vandalism and illegal.  If they damaged your UAS then you have the right to take them to civil court for compensation for a replacement.  Remember navigable airspace is a public right of way.

So what do you think? Was the fire department wrong to shoot at the drone with their hoses? Or was the drone operator acting irresponsibly by flying his camera that close to an active firefighting situation?