Blue Mountains City Council has given the green light to a new Rural Fire Service station to be built at Yellow Rock, replacing the 20-year-old shed that was destroyed in last year's bushfires.
Winmalee RFS brigade captain Anthony Black said construction was expected to start on the brigade's new station before Christmas.
The old shed was built with the brigade's own funds on private land and was among the extensive property losses at Yellow Rock in the October fires. Council will enter into a peppercorn lease of $1 a year with Oasis Horticulture for part of their land with direct access onto Singles Ridge Road.
"Oasis [Nursery] has been incredibly generous," Mr Black said.
"Negotiations between the brigade and Oasis have been underway for over a year. There have been significant issues - because of the unusual circumstance that the land is not owned by the council. Others in the community would have given up - Oasis has resolutely, but flexibly, approached each and every challenge so as to allow the brigade to be accommodated on its land."
All that remains of the shed is a singed sign which will be "a hallowed relic" and take pride of place at the new station, Mr Black said on the anniversary of last year's fires.
The new station will provide more efficient fire cover and will be built to be less prone to vandalism and will remain part of Winmalee brigade which has 150 members, with about 75 active members, he said.
Mr Black hopes "the prominent location will encourage new members and underline to the residents of Yellow Rock that the brigade is more determined than ever to support the community and protect the community from the threat of bushfires".
"Our brigade members lost houses [in the fires], and the brigade generally is pretty shattered by the whole event," Mr Black said.
"We are determined to contruct a Yellow Rock shed that will provide a better facility than the previous one. The old station was really only a carport for one truck. This will be a much larger, and fully enclosed building - able to hold two vehicles plus equipment," he said.
The new building will cost $500,000 with $58,000 coming from council funds and an ongoing commitment by council of less than $5000 annually for upkeep.
And while the new building will mean a "more timely response" for future fires, the brigade captain is realistic enough to know it could all happen again.
"A fire like that of October 2013 is always a possibility in the Blue Mountains," he said.
Councillors officially thanked the nursery during last week's council meeting "for their civic undertaking in allowing the station to be built for the benefit of the Blue Mountains community".
Council was working hard to speed up the development application which was "well advanced", according to Mr Black.
An Oasis Nursery spokesman said the 1129 square metres being given to the Winmalee brigade to re-build their station was part of an ongoing commitment they had made to the RFS.
"The relationship extends over the past decades," said general manager Andrew White. "With staff being volunteers; access and a source for water from our dams, and following the 2001 fires, Oasis became aware of the issue of base to fire truck communications and donated two-way radios to the local station.
"When the local residents of Yellow Rock, which includes many staff, drive along Singles Ridge Road the visible presence of an RFS station will add a level of comfort and security to the community."
The length of the lease is still to be finalised.
It's the second of three new stations for the Mountains. Valley Heights' new shed was built in 2012 and a new station is planned soon for Shipley.