Drone Crashes and Burns on Sag Harbor's Main Street

It was a first for emergency responders in Sag Harbor when a drone crashed on Tuesday evening. 

Sag Harbor Fire Department Chief Tom Gardella said he knew the call was out of the ordinary when dispatchers didn't quite say what kind of investigation he was responding to at 6:12 p.m. One of his captains, who had already extinguished the flaming drone that landed on the sidewalk in front of the Sag Harbor Variety Store, quickly called to explain. He was met with "dead silence" from the chief. "That's not something you see every day." 

An aerial photographer had been piloting the drone to take pictures of the Watchcase condominiums, according to The Sag Harbor Express, when "a mechanical failure" occurred, the chief said. The drone hit the facade of the buildings that house Banducci, Katz, and Ferraris, an accounting firm, and the Sag Harbor Variety Store. The drone smashed into the buildings about 20 feet from the ground, bounced off, and hit the sidewalk, near a tree in front of the store. 

"Nobody got hurt. Thank God," Chief Gardella said. There was very minor damage to the building, but the drone was completely destroyed. 

The chief called the East Hampton Town fire marshal's office to make a report.