According to the spokesman, drones were recently spotted near Hill Air Force Base

OGDEN — Officials at Hill Air Force Base said Monday that there have been recent drone sightings near the base, while numerous mysterious drones have been reported along the East Coast.

According to television station WCPO, the unmanned aerial vehicles were spotted over New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania and even paralyzed the airspace at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday that the sightings did not pose any risks to public safety or national security, the Associated Press reports.

Monday evening, the Department of Homeland Security, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense, issued a joint statement saying the FBI had received more than 5,000 tips about drone sightings in recent weeks, generating about 100 tips.

“We have sent advanced detection technology to the region. And we sent trained visual observers,” they said.

“We can confirm that unmanned aerial systems were recently spotted near Hill Air Force Base,” said spokesman Kendahl Johnson. “To date, unmanned aerial systems have had no impact on operations at Hill Air Force Base and all appropriate measures are being taken to protect Hill personnel, assets and infrastructure.”

No further details were released about the number of drones, the timing of these sightings or what was done about them.

In the joint statement Monday night, officials said that “such sightings near or over Defense Department facilities are nothing new” and that they “take unauthorized access to Defense Department airspace seriously.”

The various national authorities reported in their joint statement that “sightings to date include a combination of legal commercial drones, hobby drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and stars that have been incorrectly reported as drones.” We have not detected any anomalies and do not believe that the past activity poses a risk to national security or public safety.”

A Fruit Heights resident, Kristen Brinkman, told KSL.com she saw about 10 drones that she believed were her over the base around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night. “At first I thought – oh, maybe it’s Starlink,” she said, “but it was way too close… and brighter than anything I’ve ever seen.

She lives right next to the base and is used to seeing planes and helicopters flying in and out of the exact spot where she saw the objects, she says. “They didn’t really flash,” Brinkman said. “Just a super strong light” that would gradually fade to black. As time went on, she said, “They just vanished into thin air,” floating and moving slightly.

They varied in size, but in Brinkman’s opinion, were far too large to serve as a hobby drone. One flew over her house while her window was open, and it was “pretty quiet,” not like the planes she was used to.

According to Hill’s website, the use of small unmanned aircraft is never permitted on or over the military base. “Unknown drone swarms were recently observed over several US military bases,” said a press release last Tuesday. “The use of personal drones on bases poses a significant threat to aircraft.”

Hill Air Force Base’s airspace is adjacent to Ogden Regional Airport and the arrival and departure corridors of Salt Lake City International Airport and is also a hub for helicopter medical evacuation flights for five area hospitals and U.S. Forest Service operations during fire season , officials say.

The base employs a “5 mile rule,” according to Hill’s website, in which drone operators require prior approval to fly within 5 miles of the facility, fly between sunrise and sunset and operate at a depth of less than 300 feet must.

“We continue to monitor the airspace and work with local authorities to track the unmanned aerial systems. To ensure operational security, we do not discuss specific measures to protect the armed forces; however, we reserve the right to protect our assets,” Johnson said.

Officials are urging anyone who “sees anything suspicious, including unmanned aircraft system activity,” to contact local police or Hill Security Forces.