The project was announced as a pre-election commitment from the current state government in 2014 and will significantly improve available amenities for the current crew.

In September of 2015 CFA District 15 acting operations manager Alfred Mason said the current Learmonth Street site was unsuitable for the revamp given its small size.

A statement from the state government to The Courier confirmed a suitable site for the new base had been identified after valuations were completed in December.

“CFA is planning during January 2017 to discuss with the vendor the purchase of the required site area, subject to satisfactory results of due diligence investigations,” the statement read.

“A suitable site has recently been identified for the new station development and CFA is currently undertaking due diligence investigations on this site prior to discussions with a potential vendor,” a government spokesperson added.

“CFA will be consulting with the local brigade as part of the due diligence.”

However, the spokesperson did not disclose the locations of any potential sites and could not give dates for the start and completion of the project.

CFA district 15 operations manager Brett Boatman said the land identification process was still very much in its infancy, with several spots currently being looked at.

“There's a couple of options – we’re not not transfixed on one spot,” he said.

“Our process is that we identify sites, then we go into evaluating and negotiating the right price (with the landowner).

“If we can achieve an agreement there we can go ahead with it.”

Mr Boatman said the ideal site would need to be between 2000-3000 square metres (roughly twice the size of the current station base) with good access to major thoroughfares.

“This (site identification and land acquirement) would be my top priority in terms of building projects,” he said.