A new �2m second fire station will help boost response times to emergencies which happen to the south of King's Lynn.

Fire chiefs plan to split appliances between the town's current fire station, in Kilham's Way, and a new station at Horsley's Fields, off the Hardwick Road.

Tim Edwards, station manager at King's Lynn fire station, said a planning application would be submitted soon to West Norfolk council.

'At the moment we are finalising all the little details before it goes to planning,' he said.

'We want to make sure we get it exactly right first time. We are trying to split the resources up between the two sites.

'It will improve response times for that end of the town because we'll already be there.'

From the current fire station, appliances have to either head through the busy town centre, or take a lengthy detour around the A149 King's Lynn bypass via Knight's Hill to get to incidents which happen to the south of the town, along the A47 or A10.

Staffed 24/7, the new station would offer much easier accesss to the main routes south of Lynn. Further improvements to the roads are planned in the area around the site, including connecting Horsley's Fields to Nar Ouse Way.

Thousands more homes are likely to be built over the next decade along the A10 corridor to accommodate Lynn's growing population – the bulk of them between the Hardwick Roundabout and West Winch.

The existing fire station in Kilhams Way, off Edward Benefer Way, to the north of the town centre, will remain open under the plan.

Fire engines will be split between the two, while the brigade's new high-speed search and rescue boat will also be based at the new station, which is close to the tidal Ouse, the Relief Channel and other inland waterways.

Lynn currently has four full-time watches, each consisting of a watch manager, two crew managers and nine firefighters. There is also a retained crew, consisting of a watch manager, two crew managers and nine firefighters.

The station houses a water tender, rescue pump, hydraulic platform and aerial ladder platform.

In 2011/12, the station dealt with 1,392 incidents, about a tenth of the total for Norfolk, including 228 fires and 394 other incidents, including assisting at road accidents.

The only busier stations in the county were Great Yarmouth, which dealt with 1,741 incidents, and Norwich, which handled 1,421.

A name for the fire station, which is being funded by Norfolk County Council, has not yet been decided. It is hoped the fire station will be completed and operational by early 2014.