The Port Hedland community will have an opportunity to check out Port Hedland’s new $2.9 million Marine Rescue facility during its open day on Saturday.

Running from 9am to noon, the event celebrated a milestone in strengthening local marine safety, volunteer capability and community resilience in the Pilbara.

Port Hedland community members, partners and supporters will be given an opportunity to explore the new facility, meet the volunteers, enjoy a sausage sizzle, and learn more about the vital work Marine Rescue Port Hedland provides to keep local waters safe.

The tours will allow visitors to step inside the new building, explore training and operations spaces, and get up close to the Marine Rescue vessels that respond to emergencies along our coast.

Marine Rescue Port Hedland deputy commander Adrian Wells said the new facility represented a major step forward for the volunteer organisation and the wider community.

“This is sort of next level for us in a facility for Marine Rescue,” said Mr Wells.

“Not only is it a facility for our members, it’s for our families and it’s for the wider community.”

The new facility replaces the former base, which Mr Wells said was no longer suitable to for the organisation’s growing needs.

“Our current facility was the old heritage-based school,” he said.

“It was fairly dilapidated, termite-ridden, falling apart, and just no longer was going to be a viable solution for Marine Rescue in the future.”

Planning for the new facility began in 2014, with years of fundraising and support from government, industry partners and the wider community helping the project become official.

The facility will now provide a major upgrade for Marine Rescue volunteers, who previously operated with limited facilities.

“Up until about a year and a half ago, we were having meetings outside under the shade cloth between a couple of sea containers,” said Mr Wells.

“Now they have this facility where we can have all of our members in one place for a meeting and really push our training to the next level.”