NJ ‘drone crash’ report prompts massive police/fire search in Hillsborough

✅ Calls to 911 came in about a drone that appeared to crash in a field

✅ First responders from around Somerset County searched air and foot

✅ Trucks and search crews filled the parking lot of a nearby Lowe's store

HILLSBOROUGH — Reports of a drone crashing near power lines Thursday night turned out to be nothing, according to police.

Police said they were notified around 8:35 p.m. about a drone that supposedly hit high-tension power lines near a Lowes store on Route 206 and then crashed into a field.

ALSO READ: NJ tells fire departments to treat drones like dangerous bombs

Search lasts for hours

Several agencies including the State Police Aviation Unit and firefighters began an initial search for several hours.

The search was picked up around 7:30 a.m. on foot and with a drone from the Millstone Valley Fire Department and continued for several more hours. No drone was found and the search ended at 12:10 p.m.

Rumors of drone crashes are regularly posted on social media but none have been found.

This week police in Parsippany-Troy Hills refuted online messages claiming that a drone had downed power lines in a fiery crash, which was actually a car accident that toppled a utility pole.

NJ tells fire departments to treat drones like bombs

The drone sightings have been making national news, with White House and Pentagon officials on Thursday downplaying the concern and even suggesting that people in New Jersey were not seeing what they think they saw.

The statements by federal officials was met with furious reactions from local officials in the Garden State.

The state Division of Fire Safety, meanwhile, has instructed police departments to treat fallen drones like dangerous bombs.

ALSO READ: Small plane from Linden Airport lands along NY interstate, 1 dead

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