GORLESTON fire station’s future has been secured as bosses move to position fire engines nearer to densely populated areas.

One of Great Yarmouth’s two fire engines will be based at Gorleston during the day in a bid to improve response times.

Improvement work to the tune of �65,000 is being completed at the Gorleston fire station in High Road before the extra fire engine is stationed there later this year.

The work will improve access, basic accommodation, heating and facilities at the retained fire station so staff will be equipped to work as a full-time station.

Gorleston fire station’s future had been in doubt as Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service considered proposals to build a single super station in Pasteur Road, Great Yarmouth to cover both Yarmouth and Gorleston.

But now bosses have decided to keep the two existing stations and move one fire engine to Gorleston during the day.

Mike McCarthy, deputy chief fire officer for the service, said: “We’ve looked at when most incidents happen and it’s within domestic addresses and not industry.

“We believe moving a fire engine to Gorleston means we will have quicker response times across the whole area.”

There are currently two full-time fire engines based at the 24-hour fire station in Friars Lane, Great Yarmouth and one part-time fire engine based in Gorleston.

But bosses plan to station one of the Yarmouth fire engines at Gorleston from 8am to 8pm each day as it is a densely populated area where many call-outs come from.

The decision comes after research into when and where fire engines have attended incidents and comments from the public.

“Last year we proposed a new station and we were considering taking the station away from Gorleston,” said Mr McCarthy. “Following the information we’ve heard in consultation we’ve decided it’s best to move our resources around.

“Firefighters have mixed views on this but we’ve gone through full consultation and we believe we’re doing the right thing in terms of our professional and moral obligations.”

Once the Yarmouth fire engine starts to work from Gorleston for 12 hours each day, both Yarmouth and Gorleston fire stations will be operating with one full-time and one part-time fire engine.

Mr McCarthy said: “We’re waiting to complete our work to update Gorleston fire station before the changes come in.”

A completion date for the work at Gorleston fire station has not been announced.