Petersburg Casino Helps City Buy Fire Trucks, $10 Million in Supplies

Virginia's gaming tax fund is helping to preserve public health and safety.

The Petersburg Fire Department, which services the public about 30 minutes south of the state capital of Richmond, purchased three fire truck engines and two ladder trucks with money included in the Live! Casino and Hotel project.

The $10 million acquisition was made possible thanks to a donation from the Cordish Gaming Group, a development and operations group helping to facilitate the project.

Bolstering fire safety

Cordish pledged money to Petersburg’s police and fire departments as part of its deal to bring a casino to the city, a plan that was approved in November 2024. 

Progress is being made to bring a temporary casino to service local patrons until the full-fledged casino eventually opens. The former temporary casino in Danville, Virginia, which was replaced by the complete Caesars Danville Virginia Casino, is being dismantled and will eventually be relocated to Petersburg.

“It’s a great day to be a Petersburg firefighter,” said Fire Chief Wayne Hoover. “If there is anybody in the state of Virginia that needed new apparatus, it’s this department.”

The purchase of new trucks was the largest financial commitment made by the department in more than 30 years. The hope is that it will update the technology available to the crew and make them more responsive and safer.

"Anytime the red lights are on and they are parked on scene, it will notify drivers using the Waze app that there’s an emergency vehicle ahead, to slow down," said Kevin Sandridge with Atlantic Emergency Solutions.

Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham confirmed that the money was allocated specifically to the fire department from the donation made by Cordish. 

It also marked a change in policy, as the money was used to pay for the equipment upfront instead of via financing.

More public improvements coming

Progress isn’t stopping with the purchase of the new trucks. Mayor Parham said that the goal is to eventually move the Fire Station to a new, modern location.

"City council plans to build a new fire station down on the southern end of the city and move forward with relocating our Farmer Street Station, which is one of our oldest stations," Parham said.

Next on the list of public improvement projects will be to address the insufficient equipment supply for police officers.

According to Parham, Petersburg is one of the only jurisdictions in which officers share cars instead of having their own unit.

Upcoming plans also call for the creation of a new elementary school and general updates to public schools.

The upgrades are a positive sign for the more than 80 percent of local voters that voted “yes” to the casino, which is projected to generate billions of dollars over the next decade.

“This is historical,” said Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D-Petersburg). “There are moments in time where you know that one singular event will change the trajectories of a community and today’s project is one of those projects, unquestionably.”