Fire officials plead for people to not fly drones over wildfire-ravaged areas of Southern California

If a drone is in the air, then all firefighting aerial operations shut down.

This story was originally published by KABC, an ABC owned and operated television station.

LOS ANGELES -- As the wind-driven fires continue across Southern California, officials are pleading with people to not fly drones over wildfire-ravaged areas.

"Everyone should know, all of your viewers, flying a drone in the fire traffic area is not only dangerous, but it's illegal," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Maroney said.

David Muir anchors a special edition of "20/20" with continuing coverage of the deadly California fires. "American Catastrophe: LA Burning -- A Special Edition of 20/20" starts tonight at 9/8c on ABC.

The fire chief stressed that doing so could severely hamper efforts, noting that if a drone is over one of the fires that crews are battling, all firefighting aerial operations shut down.

Temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) are put in place by the FAA to alert pilots of areas of restricted air travel due to a hazardous condition, a special event, or a general warning for the entire FAA airspace.

TFRs are currently in place over the Palisades and Eaton fires, allowing firefighting aircraft the airspace they need. They apply to all aircraft, including drones.

Drone videos of destroyed neighborhoods are spreading over social media, despite the threat of jail time.

During a news conference Thursday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman reiterated that anyone caught flying a drone faces severe consequences.

"If you're thinking that it's fine to send a drone up in the area for your own amusement, or you want to get information that nobody else can get, and you do it in one of these areas that for which drones are not permitted ... you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will be punished to the full extent of the law," he said.

According to the FAA, you can still be arrested and fined, even if TFRs are not in place.

"Even if a TFR is not in place, drone pilots should avoid flying near wildfires," the FAA states. "It's a federal crime to interfere with firefighting aircraft regardless of whether restrictions are established, and violators can face stiff penalties."

A super scooper plane on contract from Quebec hit a drone while fighting the Palisades Fire. It is only one of two super scoopers available and it's now out of commission until at least Monday as it gets repaired, officials said.

The pilots were unaware they hit the drone until they landed at Van Nuys Airport and the maintenance staff noticed a "fist-sized hole," according to Maroney.

"We do have our federal partners behind the scenes," he said. "[They] are going to be implementing procedures to be able to follow drones in our two large fire areas, and they will be they will be able to identify who the operator of that drone is."

In 2019, KABC's helicopter had to make a precautionary landing after it was hit by a drone while flying over downtown Los Angeles.

"We heard this pop, a loud bang," said pilot and reporter Chris Cristi. "We felt it, we heard it. We all looked at each other. Didn't really know what it was. Just assumed it was a bird because that happens every once in a while. When we got on the ground, though, it was a different story."

FAA rules prohibit flying drones within five miles of an airport, above 400 feet elevation or in a way that interferes with manned aircraft. It also says drones cannot be operated beyond the unassisted line of sight of the operator.

And if you're thinking of citing "the media" as a reason to be exempt from the rules, the FAA stresses that even media personnel are not allowed to fly near wildfires unless they're granted a special approval that "must directly support a response, relief, or recovery activity."

"Not only are these drone flights illegal and dangerous for our firefighters," said ABC Owned TV Stations executive producer and licensed drone pilot, Tim Sarquis, "It makes flying legitimately more difficult. When drone pilots break the rules, it hurts everyone, resulting in more restrictions if not full out bans of drones in some areas."

Take a look at the latest stories and videos on the devastating Southern California wildfires here.

ABC News contributed to this report.

27-year-old man credited for saving kids, driver in runaway school bus

A Minnesota man is opening up after he saved nearly 20 children when their school bus driver suffered a medical emergency.

"I really felt like it was my duty," Ebro Ahmed, 27, told ABC News. "Also, too, it’s kids we’re talking about, you know. Even if I were to die, it would still be worth it."

Surveillance video, released by convenience store Ya Bricks Snacks and Tobacco, captured the scene on Monday. Ahmed, who was standing outside the store, said he noticed a school bus driving by with the door wide open.

When he looked inside the bus, Ahmed said he saw the driver having what looked to be a seizure. He said this prompted him to sprint toward the bus, jump inside and then pull the emergency brake, seconds before anything happened.

"Some [kids] were screaming. Some [were] calm. These two girls on the front really did help me a lot. I threw my phone and my glasses at one of them and I told her to hold it," Ahmed recalled of the chaotic situation at the time.

Ahmed also credited the long-running TV drama "Grey's Anatomy" for helping him stay calm in the heightened situation.

"[The show teaches] you about what to do in situations that you never could see yourself in," Ahmed said. "So it's just something like, you know, some tips and tricks that you could use for the rest of your life."

Saint Paul Public Schools confirmed to ABC News there was a medical emergency on board the bus and paramedics responded to the scene, although no injuries were reported. The school district also said students on the impacted bus were sent home after transferring to another bus and counselors checked in with students on Tuesday after the incident.

The school bus driver was later released from the hospital and is resting at home, according to a spokesperson for Saint Paul Public Schools.

Amy Acton campaign slams Ramaswamy over controversial ad featuring estranged mother

The GOP candidate told reporters Tuesday that the ad was from his campaign.

Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton's campaign slammed her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy Tuesday, alleging his campaign used her estranged mother, whom she has accused of abusing her and standing by the man who sexually abused her, to urge voters not to support her in the toss-up race.

A video that appears to be a campaign ad circulated on social media late Monday showing Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, saying that she loves her daughter, but adds, "Amy has a serious problem" and has lied about her past.

ABC News has not been able to verify the content or authenticity of the video, which has been shared by many users online, including Donald Trump Jr.

Ramaswamy told reporters on Tuesday that the ad did come from his campaign and that he viewed it as "legitimate." He said that Acton's mother was not compensated.

"It is an ad from our campaign, and the thing that I want to say is that I would love for this race and this election to be about the substantive issues that impact Ohioans, and unfortunately, Amy Acton has been hiding from those issues. She won't debate me," he said.

In the campaign ad, Arthur describes her daughter as a "liar," saying, "She lies about her past."

"My daughter needs help, and she can't help you if she needs help herself," Arthur says in the video.

Arthur couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, criticized Ramaswamy over the "disgusting attack."

"It's not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother's husband into a political talking point," Stearns said in a statement.

"After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy's rapist until he died," he added.

This is not the first time Arthur has publicly accused her daughter of lying.

In an interview with an anti-abortion access group in 2020, Arthur accused Acton's father of convincing their daughter to lie.

When asked earlier Tuesday if the ad was made with the campaign's knowledge or consent, Connie Luck, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy, released a lengthy statement Tuesday, but did not deny making the ad or denounce it.

"We don't know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor," Luck said in a statement.

Luck's statement went on to accuse Acton of "lying about Vivek and his family, lying about her own record, and then hiding from debates," and questioning her actions during the pandemic when she was the director of the Ohio Department of Health.

"If Amy disagrees with these criticisms, she should stand before the people of Ohio, answer the questions, and let voters decide for themselves. The fact that she won't, and Vivek will, should tell you everything about who's really lying," Luck ended her statement.

Acton pushed back in an interview with Spectrum News Tuesday.

"I won't normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is something I'm just complaining about. Who today just released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for severe abuse and neglect and sexual abuse; my brother and I were removed," she said.

The campaign released a video ad later Tuesday where Stearns echoed his criticism over Ramaswamy

"Shame on Vivek,” he says, adding, "It's the contempt he has for Amy. It's the contempt he has for Ohio. He's not fit to lead."

Acton has been public about her experience with abuse and seeking therapy for it, She has also openly spoken about her tumultuous relationship with her mother.

In an interview with the Youngstown Vindicator in 2019, when she was first appointed director of the Ohio Department of Health, Acton described a childhood that was "out of control", shuffling between houses with her mother and brother and the "cast of characters" her mother dated.

She alleged her mother's second husband molested her between the ages of 9 and 12. Charges were filed against her stepfather, and Acton testified against him.

A newspaper article from August 1978 corroborates Acton's account.

The article in the Youngstown Vindicator describes that Acton's stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was "bound over to the Mahoning County grand jury in connection with the rape of a 12-year-old girl." Acton was born in 1966, making her 12 at the time.

The article says he was "arrested at his home on August 4th following an investigation initiated by the girl's father."

Cledith Arthur died in 2004. He and Acton's mother remained married after the allegations.

"In the courthouse after they were charged, I went to give her a kiss, and she just turned her cheek away. That was the last time I ever saw her," Acton said in the 2019 interview about her mother. "I was lucky that it got bad enough, because it got me out of there."

Acton's father received custody, which she credited for turning her life around. She then graduated top of her class in high school, was homecoming queen, and became a doctor.

Ramaswamy has also been criticized for making comments seen as dismissive of his opponents' experiences, saying that Acton "only ever talks about something that happened to her" rather than having a positive message.

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Overall vacancy rate held steady at 1.3 percent; Rate of “zombie” homes fell slightly to 3.3 percent

IRVINE, Calif. – August 28, 2026— ATTOM, the leading provider of property data, AI-powered analytics, and real estate intelligence solutions, today released its latest Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.3 percent of residential properties in the United States were vacant in the third quarter of the year. That was the same rate as the previous quarter as well as the third quarter of 2025.

The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM — including foreclosure status, equity and owner-occupancy status — matched against monthly updated vacancy data. (See full methodology below).

Out of the country’s 104.6 million residential properties, 259,666 were in the foreclosure process in the third quarter of 2026. About 3.3 percent of those, or 8,482 properties, were “zombies,” meaning the owners had abandoned the properties before the end of their foreclosure proceedings. That zombie rate was slightly lower than the 3.4 percent of properties posted in both the prior quarter and at the same time last year.

“It remains very hard to find an empty home for prospective buyers in most regions,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “In 19 states, the home vacancy rate is below 1 percent, creating a bottleneck that is helping to keep prices high.”

Zombie homes decline in just over half of states

The number of zombie properties rose in 21 states between the second and third quarters of 2026.

.Among states with at least 50 zombie properties, the largest quarter-over-quarter increases were in Kentucky (up 56.8 percent to 58 zombie properties); Colorado (up 30.1 percent to 95); Arizona (up 19.4 percent to 86); Maryland (up 18.9 percent to 151); and Indiana (up 17 percent to 344).

The states with the largest decline in zombie properties were Georgia (down 22.8 percent to 78); Texas (down 17.4 percent to 166); Ohio (down 10.8 percent to 602); Minnesota (down 10 percent to 54); and California (down 8 percent to 298).

Vacancy rates below 1 percent in 19 states

The states with the highest overall home vacancy rates in the third quarter were Oklahoma (2.4 percent); Kansas (2.4 percent); Alabama (2.2 percent); West Virginia (2.1 percent); and Missouri (2.1 percent).

The lowest vacancy rates were in New Hampshire (0.3 percent); Vermont (0.4 percent); New Jersey (0.5 percent); Connecticut (0.5 percent); and Idaho (0.5 percent)

Zombie rates highest in Midwest cities

Out of 140 metropolitan statistical areas with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least 100,00 residential properties and at least 50 properties in the foreclosure process, the highest zombie rates were in Youngstown, OH (12.1 percent of homes in foreclosure were vacant); Cedar Rapids, IA (11.6 percent); Baltimore, MD (11.5 percent); Fort Wayne, IN (11.1 percent); and Akron, OH (10.5 percent).

The lowest zombie rates were in Bridgeport, CT (0 percent); Huntsville, AL (0 percent); Trenton, NJ (0.1 percent); Provo, UT (0.2 percent); and Atlantic City, NJ (0.4 percent).

Investors holding more vacant properties

Out of 24.9 million properties owned by institutional investors, 879,532, or 3.5 percent, were vacant in the third quarter of 2026—more than double the nation’s overall vacancy rate.

The states with the highest vacancy rates among investor-owned homes were Indiana (7 percent), Illinois (6.2 percent), Oklahoma (6 percent), Kansas (5.9 percent), and Alabama (5.9 percent).

The states with the lowest vacancy rates for investor-owned properties were New Hampshire (0.9 percent), Vermont (1 percent), Idaho (1.3 percent), North Dakota (1.5 percent), and New Jersey (1.5 percent).

Two Indianapolis zip codes in top five for home vacancy rates

There were 2,511 zip codes with sufficient data to be included in ATTOM’s analysis, meaning they had at least 1,000 residential properties and at least 25 properties in the foreclosure process in the third quarter of 2026. Of those, the highest zombie rates were in 33708 in Saint Petersburg, FL (38.3 percent); 88310 in Alamogordo, NM (36.7 percent); 46201 in Indianapolis, IN (34.1 percent); 34652 in New Port Richey, FL (32.6 percent); and 46208 in Indianapolis, IN (32.6 percent)

Conclusion

ATTOM’s third quarter analysis of vacant and zombie homes found that the national vacancy rate held firm at 1.3 percent despite vacancy rates dropping in a majority of states. The national zombie home rate decreased slightly to 3.3 percent.

Report Methodology

ATTOM analyzed county tax assessor data for nearly 104.6 million residential properties for vacancy, broken down by foreclosure status and owner-occupancy status in the third quarter of 2026. Only metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000 residential properties and 50 properties in pre-foreclosure, counties with at least 50,000 residential properties and zip codes with at least 1,000 residential properties and 25 in pre-foreclosure were included in the analysis.

Report Definitions

Vacant Rate

The percentage of all residential properties that are unoccupied at the time of analysis, regardless of foreclosure status or ownership type.

“Zombie” Foreclosure Rate (Pct Pre-Foreclosures Vacant)

The percentage of properties in the foreclosure process that are vacant because the owner has abandoned the property prior to the foreclosure being completed.

Vacant Investment Rate

The percentage of investor-owned residential properties that are unoccupied, measured against the total number of investor-owned homes.

Vacant Bank-Owned (REO) Rate

The percentage of bank-owned (REO) residential properties that are vacant after foreclosure has been completed and ownership has transferred to the lender.

About ATTOM

ATTOM delivers AI-driven property intelligence built on the nation's most trusted property data repository, covering 160+ million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our engineered, multi-sourced, semantically rich real estate data spans property tax, deeds, mortgages, foreclosure, environmental risk, property conditions, natural hazards, neighborhood insights, and geospatial boundaries, rigorously validated for advanced analytics. ATTOM supports analytics, AI applications, and AI agents through flexible delivery options including APIs, bulk licensing, cloud delivery, and the MCP Server for AI-powered, agentic access to engineered property data, enabling organizations to automate analysis, power intelligent workflows, and scale property intelligence across industries.

Media Contact:

Megan Hunt

megan.hunt@attomdata.com

Data and Report Licensing:

datareports@attomdata.com

Recorder Data

Complete Public Records. Nationwide Coverage.

ATTOM Is Your One-Stop Solution for Real Estate Deed Data

No matter what their title is – county recorder, clerk-recorder, registrar of title, recorder of deeds or anything else – each U.S. county has a government official charged with collecting and maintaining public records and documents on real estate transactions (sales deeds and mortgages) involving properties located within their respective county.

With the largest multi-sourced real estate database in the nation, ATTOM has collected and configured recorder data from all over the country including more than 500 million real estate and loan transactions in over 2,690 counties. This dataset can be collated into reports at various levels of geography.

Comprehensive Real Estate Recorder Data to Facilitate Your Business Needs

Public records are essential to any analysis in today’s real estate market, and ATTOM’s warehouse of recorder data will enable you to break down the nationwide property data in order to service your particular business needs. Recorder data is provided in the following categories:

Property Identification

- Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN)

- FIPS code

Buyer Data

- Up to four buyer names

- Ownership rights / Vesting details

- Individual / Trust / Company identifiers

Seller Data

- Seller / Company names

- Ownership rights / Vesting details

Address

- Property address

- Buyer mailing address

Transfer Elements

- Arms-length / Non-arms-length

- Sale / Transfer amount

- Recording date

- Document number

Loan Elements

- Mortgage amount

- Loan term

- Recording date

- Standardized lender name

- Loan type

- Lender code

How Can You Use ATTOM’s Recorder Data?

Mortgage and Refinance

The history of transactions can be used during the sale and refinance of a home to check loan history, liens and other information that may affect or influence the transaction.

Marketing List Enrichment

Improve audience targeting and ROI using data like last sale information, lender information, historical transactions and more.

Competitive Analytics

Analysis of competitive lenders and investment flippers operating nationally or in a specific market can be derived using the history of property transactions.

Referral Analysis

Companies and web portals providing leads to lending firms lose line of sight to the lead. Comparison to the recorder data can confirm success rates for their referral programs.

Property Insurance Risk

Recorder data contributes to the risk modeling analysis performed by insurance companies when creating homeowner insurance policies.

Financial Health Reporting

Transaction history on a home, when combined with other data, influences the financial health of the owner. These reports can be sold to consumers as a monitoring service.

What is recorder data?

Recorder data provides users with access to information from public records and documents on real estate transactions. This data can unearth insights into sellers, buyers, transfers, and loan elements (such as the loan term and mortgage amount). Recorder data centralizes public records data in one place, helping to simplify and speed up data sourcing.

A Variety of Solutions for Your Data Needs

Click here to get in touch with a data expert today and find out how your business can access ATTOM’s comprehensive property data via a variety of flexible formats, such as:

Discover ATTOM and view our Table of Data Elements.