Over the weekend, Ben Affleck received a visit from FBI agents and Los Angeles police at his Brentwood home as the Palisades fire raged nearby.
According to photos obtained by Page Six, authorities were seen outside his front gate. An FBI spokesperson explained that members of the agency’s Ground Intercept task force were “conducting activity in the area of the Palisades fire relative to unauthorized drone activity.”
A source also told Page Six that the FBI team visited Affleck’s home to see if the actor had CCTV footage of a private drone that damaged a “super scooper,” one of the firefighter aircrafts battling the blazes raging around Los Angeles.
On Thursday, CBS News and other outlets reported that a private drone collided with a “super scooper” as it was working to suppress the Palisades fire. The fierce, windstorm-fueled blaze destroyed more than 5,300 homes, businesses and other structures and burned more than 23,000 acres.
Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, told CBS News on Sunday that the drone violated temporary flight restrictions enacted by the Federal Aviation Administration in the wake of the blazes.
As the FBI investigated unauthorized drone activity during the fires, agents and police may be seen in the area, visiting local homes, the spokesperson who spoke to Page Six said.
Last week, Affleck was photographed on Tuesday driving away from his $20 million home as he was forced to evacuate due to the fast-moving Palisades fire. Page Six and other outlets reported that the actor drove to the nearby Brentwood home of his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, where she lives with their three children, Violet, 19, Seraphina, 16, and Samuel, 12.
Affleck’s home thus far escaped damage, and he was able to visit it the following day. But it doesn’t appear that he has moved back in.
“Ben’s home is still under evacuation order, but he feels so grateful his property is safe for the time being,” a source told Page Six. “Ben knows many people who unfortunately lost their homes. He has seen a lot of devastation, and it’s beyond tragic. … Ben is reaching out to anybody he can help.”
