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Introducing the Firehawk, San Diego's $19.8 million helicopter

Some of San Diego's wildfires start at night. That's where a new tool comes in.

San Diego's new fire-rescue helicopter is here. 

The Firehawk is so high-tech that it can fly at night and drop 1,000 gallons of water at a time. This is San Diego County's third helicopter designed to help firefighters tackle wildfires. To give you an idea, 1,000 gallons of water is more than double the capacity of the county's two older helicopters.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer convinced the city council to approve the $19.8 million purchase in Dec. 2017.

CHOPPER 8: Helicopter used by News 8 crash lands at Gillespie Field

"We are a city and a region that has canyons as you know, [and] that has  brush," said Faulconer. "Our ability to quickly get up in the air and make a difference will absolutely help saves lives."

RELATED: Fire safety gaps exposed as San Diego’s homeless make canyons their home

The Firehawk can and will perform search and rescue missions. The helicopter can also hold more people inside of it than the older helicopters can. 

The longest 1/2 mile walk is with toddlers, but when we arrived at o... ur prize - Starbucks, we were greeted with this sign...I wish the boys could do Barre class with my mom and I instead. As of this morning Poway is still under a precautionary boil water advisory.

Note: We erroneously reported in the above video that the helicopter cost $9.8 million dollars. It actually cost $19.8 million.

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