The new centre, on Hampden Park Road, features the latest equipment, operational control and training facilities.

RFS Chifley/Lithgow Team Inspector Mick Holland said the centre will be of huge benefit to the service’s volunteers and the wider community.

“It will definitely upgrade our operational capability and also our administrative and training capabilities for our volunteers,” he said.

But Inspector Holland said the centre will really come into its own during a major incident, vastly improving the ability to co-ordinate firefighting efforts.

The centre is large enough to cater for all other agencies, including other fire services, National Parks and State Forests, which will also be involved if there is an incident.

“At the moment, down in Lee Street [at the current fire control centre], we’re really running on very old technology and very old systems that were put in place into a historical building,” Inspector Holland said.

“They do give us a lot of limits when it comes to running major incidents which require the technology that the Rural Fire Service has available for its volunteers now.”

Inspector Holland said the days of just jumping into a fire truck and heading off to a blaze are long gone.

“They [volunteers] have technology and resources such as aircraft, we’re moving into things like drones and we have satellite imagery we can use,” he said.

“There’s also a department now that actually uses weather balloons for exact location fire weather forecasts.

“Here in this new facility we’ll be able to feed all that information back to our volunteers.”

And improved facilities for firefighters means an improved service for the community, Inspector Holland said.

“It means that we will deal with bushfires better and hopefully make it a lot safer for the community,” he said.

The project is due for completion by the end of April.

The NSW Government committed $3 million to build the centre, while the block of land was donated by Bathurst Regional Council.