The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) headquarters will stay in western Sydney, dashing calls for it to relocate to Dubbo.
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The NSW government announced a long-term lease had been signed for the organisation at Sydney Olympic Park.
The current lease for the NSW RFS’s Lidcombe base expires in November 2018.
The looming deadline had given rise to calls for the service to head west of the mountains - a move that had the potential to bring hundreds of jobs to rural people.
But the government said it had “secured the future” of the NSW RFS by signing the lease for a premises, located a short distance from the Lidcombe base.
The new building in Murray Rose Avenue will be fitted with state-of-the-art technology to support modern firefighting operations, such as live fire information and intelligence, digital mapping, public information, warnings and media broadcasting.
It will also house the State Operations Centre for use during major bush fires.
Minister for Emergency Services David Elliott said the new location was convenient and meant about 300 jobs and investment would remain in western Sydney.
NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the base would have capacity for about 550 people during major emergencies, working together in logistics, resource coordination, public information and warnings.
More than 500 other staff will continue to work in fire control centres and regional offices across the state.
Former Dubbo City Councillor Ben Shields saw an opportunity in the approaching end to the Lidcombe lease more than a year ago.
In May 2015 he moved a motion calling for Dubbo City Council to encourage the relocation of the NSW RFS headquarters to Dubbo.
It gained unanimous support at the council meeting.
Meanwhile Orange local government leaders were also on the case last year, with that city’s council seeking a meeting with emergency services minister David Elliott.
And earlier this year the Volunteer Firefighters Association (VFFA) was also continuing its push for the state government to put the “rural back into Rural Fire Service (RFS)”.