The Snowy Monaro will become home to a state-of-the art fire control centre and emergency operations setup, in the most significant funding boost yet to local firefighting efforts.

Monaro Rural Fire Service (RFS) superintendent, Jim Darrant, said the new Monaro Fire Control Centre will improve the region’s response and management of emergency situations.

Superintendent Darrant who led the Snowy Monaro’s firefighting response during the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires, believes the new centre will be a ‘game-changer’ for the region.

“The new centre will provide a state-of-the-art facility, one half for fire control and the other half for emergency operations,” Mr Darrant said.

“Our firefighting capabilities and preparedness will be greatly strengthened when the centre is up and running.”

The new Monaro Fire Control Centre, at Polo Flat Cooma, is a joint agency project between the NSW RFS, Snowy Monaro Regional Council and Snowy Hydro.

Snowy Hydro provided the land (behind the current Monaro RFS fire control centre) and council will contribute funds to re-route utilities and services as-required and to construct a new access road for the facility.

Due for completion in June 2026, the new centre will include an inter-agency emergency operations hub housing improved and expanded facilities for personnel, aerial equipment, training, storage, and emergency communications.

On the back of an $8.5 million grant from the NSW Government in 2022, initial planning and investigations for the RFS-managed project began in July 2022 in collaboration with Snowy Hydro and Snowy Monaro Regional Council.

The centre is being built to the latest design standards, providing first responders and the communities they protect with the innovative, modern facilities and infrastructure needed to keep the Snowy Monaro safe when disaster strikes.

Following the conclusion of the NSW Bushfire Inquiry conducted in the wake of the 2019/2020 bushfires, the NSW Government allocated the significant funding required for the new centre to the RFS.

Preparations for the project were completed in April 2025, and construction is now underway ahead of the project’s estimated completion date in June 2026.

Council and Snowy Hydro were immediately supportive of the project and worked together with the RFS to identify and make available a suitable site for the facility in Cooma’s Polo Flat industrial precinct.

The RFS has provided a further $6.5 million from its primary funding source, the NSW Rural Fire Fighting Fund, to ensure the Monaro Fire Control Centre can be built to the latest and highest standards for facilities of this kind.