The village now has a 60-day due diligence period to review the property's environmental suitability and structural condition.  

"We have the opportunity to secure a property that we believe has great strategic value to our emergency response mission for the fire department," Village Manager Michael Cassady said. "Given that we were looking to relocate our police headquarters, we didn't feel like we should just ignore fire."

Fire and Rescue already has at least three people trained to fly drones and hopefully will be getting two or three more pilots trained, said Fire Chief Micheal Despain.   

City leaders are also looking at changing the city drone policy, which now requires the mayor’s approval before any drone use.

That prior approval will be tricky when the fire department needs to use a drone at 2 a.m., Despain said.

Drones have many uses for the fire department — apartment fires, wildfires, grain elevator issues, flooding.

The fire chief says it can hold 1,500 gallons of water, compared to a normal truck that can only hold 250. This truck is the first in Virginia and the second on the east coast.  

They were able to get it by saving, fundraising, and with some help from Campbell County kicking in about one-third of the funds.