Uav operator reported a tfr miscommunication that resulted in an airborne conflict with an aircraft.

Narrative:

[We were] requested to fly to map the perimeter of the fire. PIC was informed that the tfr was in place and clearance was issued to launch. The aircraft was launched and began to climb to its mission altitude.within minutes of takeoff traffic was observed inside the boundary of the tfr. Since this was not expected the crew and PIC took measures to avoid conflict with the traffic and made slight adjustments in course and altitude to avoid. Positive visual separation was achieved with the use of a ground observer and the uas camera system.once conflict was mitigated further effort was made to determine if an incursion had occurred. It was identified that an error was made and that the tfr was not activated as claimed. Immediate recovery of the uas was conducted and the aircraft was safely landed at the intended landing site. In order to correct and avoid another instance of this event we have implemented a procedure to confirm valid activation of the tfr before every flight operation is conducted.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: UAV operator reported a TFR miscommunication that resulted in an airborne conflict with an aircraft.

Narrative: [We were] requested to fly to map the perimeter of the fire. PIC was informed that the TFR was in place and clearance was issued to launch. The aircraft was launched and began to climb to its mission altitude.Within minutes of takeoff traffic was observed inside the boundary of the TFR. Since this was not expected the crew and PIC took measures to avoid conflict with the traffic and made slight adjustments in course and altitude to avoid. Positive visual separation was achieved with the use of a ground observer and the UAS camera system.Once conflict was mitigated further effort was made to determine if an incursion had occurred. It was identified that an error was made and that the TFR was not activated as claimed. Immediate recovery of the UAS was conducted and the aircraft was safely landed at the intended landing site. In order to correct and avoid another instance of this event we have implemented a procedure to confirm valid activation of the TFR before every flight operation is conducted.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1745873
Time
Date	202006
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	UAV - Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 3 Flight Crew Total 3200 Flight Crew Type 26
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict
Miss Distance	Horizontal 1 Vertical 1000