DETROIT, MI -- Drones soon may be headed to a local emergency near you.

Detroit Aircraft Corp. Chairman Jon Rimanelli says the Detroit Fire Department and a growing number of civilian emergency response agencies are considering the use of unmanned aircrafts for firefighting and emergency response.

They "would use them to be able to get situational awareness from a fire, looking at a fire from afar and above to see the entire situation happening (so the pilot) can coordinate with the firefighters," Rimanelli said. They could "identify where the hot spots are, where the weaknesses in the structure are so firefighters don't fall through the roof, or even identify civilians or firefighters who are trapped ... Not to mention HazMat and accident scenarios."

Rimanelli's company, Detroit Aircraft Corp. is opening an assembly and manufacturing center inside the mostly vacant Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport on Conner in Detroit. The company invested nearly $60,000 to renovate a portion of the passenger terminal that is no longer in use. The fledgling company employs a dozen people with plans to double in the next year, Rimanelli said.

The Detroit Fire Department hasn't placed any drone orders yet. DFD personnel told MLive Detroit no one was available for comment on the use of drones Friday.

"Right now we've essentially built a business case for them and the fire chiefs and the commissioners voted that this is definitely a priority for their budget," Rimanelli said.

On display was a military-grade quad-copter, called the Indago VTOL, which is produced by Lockheed-Martin but will be distributed and assembled by Detroit Airport corp.

Rimanelli said the drones cost between $25,000 and $50,000 each and can be controlled up to five miles away by the pilot.

See the drone the Detroit Fire Department could own in action: