The Dearne Valley Fire Station, set to be built on land off Manvers Way, includes four fire engine bays and a major training centre.

It will be manned by two crews - a total of 14 firefighters at a time - across four shifts. The brigade are also looking to recruit between ten and 15 retained firefighters to work there part-time.

The station will be used as a main training centre to help train South Yorkshire's firefighters to deal with major incidents.

This will be provided for with a 1,500 square metre yard and tower block where firefighters will carry out drills and training exercises.

The training facilities will be used by the Brigade's Technical Rescue Unit, which respond to major incidents across South Yorkshire, and will also have a team permanently based at the station.

They will be learning how to deal with such things as rescuing people from high buildings and serious road traffic accidents, plus there will also be a pond to practice water based rescues.

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said: "This will be an excellent new resource for the entire Dearne Valley area.

"We mapped out our resources throught South Yorkshire and looked at the Thurnscoe East area which currently we cannot cover within our target response time.

"This new station will be able to cover all communities in the Dearne Valley within the six minute response time."

The South Yorkshire Times unearthed the details and pictures for the proposed new station from a detailed outline planning application which has been submitted to Rotherham Council.

The station should be ready to open in summer 2009 - but this will come at the expense of Mexborough and Brampton stations.

South Yorkshire Fire Authority took the controversial decision in 2006 close the two stations as part of a re-organisation of services to ensure response times are met to all areas of the Dearne Valley.

But the ruling was met with fierce criticism by campaigners who claimed that closing two stations and replacing them with one will lead to inadequate fire cover and put lives in danger.

At the time 16,000 people signed a petition against the proposal.
One of the key campaigners, Mexborough councillor Sue Phillips, maintained that she was still against the move.

She said:"The main concern I have is the roads around the station. The parkway is a very busy road and there are lots of roundabouts in that area.

"Motorists move out of their way yes, but I think that the fire engine would struggle to get through there quickly enough.

"I am all for the training unit, but I think the fire station is in the wrong location because of the roads, plus we are merging two stations into one location."