The Danbury Fire Department has received a donation of $10,000 to fund the drone project.  The donor asked the department to remain anonymous, but it was made in memory of the late Michael Kallas. 

The donation will be used to equip the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with a thermal imaging camera.  Drones have a number of uses in the fire service with the ability to provide situational awareness such as live aerial feeds of fires or large scale incidents, pre-planning information and to search for lost persons in rugged terrain. 

Councilman Warren Levy says Kallas had top secret clearance and was a team leader on the first spy satellite that came out of PerkinElmer.

Kallas was active in the raising of funds to obtain a thermal imagining camera presented to the Danbury Fire Department on behalf of the Danbury Lions Club.

He was a member of the Friends of the Danbury Museum and Historical Society and was a past board member, Danbury Hospital Development Fund, Danbury Downtown Council and a former corporator of the Union Savings Bank.