Mr Anderson turned the first sod at the site on Ringers Road alongside NSW Fire and Rescue zone commander, Superintendent Tom Cooper, to mark the beginning of the build.

Despite the short time frame, the turn around of the $4.8 million project doesn't phase Mr Anderson.

"We're looking to have [firies] in their brand new building by the 1st of July next year, that's about a 7-8 month build," he said.

"It's a tight time frame but we know how important this is, that's why we want to get on with the job and get these boys into their new facility."

Read also:

The new 24-hour station is set to be "one of the best" in the state, with features including accommodation for the firies, an outdoor area, and a conference room that can double as an emergency operations centre.

Supt Cooper said the station would last Fire and Rescue crews until at least 2070.

"50 years down the track we're still going to be having a functional fire station and we've got room to move into here, so it's an exciting time for us," he said.

"As the city expands, we're going to need more firefighters and more fire facilities but this one's going to do us for the next 50 years, easy."

The facility will accommodate 20 firefighters around the clock, which Superintendent Cooper said would better protect the city of Tamworth.

"The placement of the station has been taken into a lot of consideration about where most of the fires occur in Tamworth," he said.

"We're still keeping the fire station over in Carthage Street so we think that by placing the station here, in complimenting the Carthage Street fire station, we've got most of Tamworth covered."

The facility will feature a gymnasium so the firies can look after their fitness and mental and physical well-being, and there's room for "a whole raft of appliances", too.

"We'll have a hazmat appliance, we've got a boat that we can use on the Peel [River] when there's spills, rescues or anything like that. We've got the capacity to house ... more bulk water tankers and that sort of thing to cover us through the drought," Supt Cooper said.

The state-of-the-art fire station was an election commitment by Mr Anderson, and has been in the pipeline for the past four years.

"While our agricultural sector is on its knees, we've got to think about how we keep our cities going, and this is exactly how we do it: local jobs keeping our regional economic development going," Mr Anderson said.

"[The new station will mean] better services, better response time for our community, and keeping local jobs and keeping people in employment during the worst drought in living memory."